i Plan. to Mop .Up.the Mess," Insight, April 10, 1989, p. 31.
nut. er mechamsms whIch Involve culture, education, political sovereignty, and
Itary power are embodied in agencies of the United Nations.
122
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
nations-which drags them down economically to a suitable
common denominator-and (2) the acquisition of effective control
over the political leaders of the recipient countries as they become
dependent upon the money stream .. The thing that is. new and
which sets this stage apart from preVIOUS developments IS that the
apparent crumbling of Communism has created an .
rationale for the industrialized nations to now allow theIr hfeblood
to flow into the veins of their former enemies. It also creates the
appearance of global, political "convergence," a condition which
CFR theoretician, Richard Cooper, said was necessary before
Americans would accept having their own destinies determined by
governments other than their own.
CHINA
Red China joined the IMF/World Bank in 1980 and immedi-
ately began to receive billions of dollars in although it was
well known that she was devoting a huge portion of her resources
to military development. By 1987, China was the IMF's second
largest borrower, next to India, and the transfusions have grown at
a steady pace ever since. .
The Bank has asserted that loans will encourage econOmIC
reforms in favor of the private sector. Yet, none of the money has
gone to the private sector. All of it is funneled into the government
bureaucracy which, in tum, wages war against the free market. In
1989, after small businesses and farms in the private sector had
begun to flourish and surpass the performance of similar
ment enterprises, Red China's leaders clamped down on them
harsh controls and increased taxes. Vice Premier Yao Yllm
announced that there was too much needless construction, too
many private loans, and too much spending on "luxuries" such as
cars and banquets. To stop these excesses, he said, it would be
necessary to increase government controls over wages, prices, and
business activities.
Then there is the question of why China needs the money in. the
first place. Is it to develop her industry or natural resources: It
fight poverty and improve the living standard of her CItizenS.
James Bovard answers:
The Bank's defense of its China Policy is especially puzzling
because China itself is going on a foreign investment binge. The World
Bank gives China money at zero interest, and then China buyS
BUILDING THE NEW WORLD ORDER 123
property in Hong Kong, the United States, Australia, and elsewhere.
An economist with Citibank estimated that China's" direct investment
in property, manufacturing and services [in Hong Kong alone] topped
$6 billion." In 1984, China had a net outflow of capital of $1 billion.
Moreover, China has its own foreign aid program, which has given
more than $6 billion in recent decades, largely to leftist governments.
1
THE GREAT DECEPTION
It is the author's contention that the much heralded demise of
Communism in the Soviet bloc is a mixture of fact and fantasy. It is
fact at the bottom level of Communist society where the people, in
truth, rejected it long ago. The only reason they appeared to
embrace it for so many years was that they had no choice. As long
as the Soviets held control of the weapons and the means of
communication, the people had to accept their fate.
But at the tip of the pyramid of state power, it is a different
story. The top Communist leaders have never been as hostile to
their counterparts in the West as the rhetoric suggests. They are
quite friendly to the world's leading financiers and have worked
closely with them when it suits their purposes. As we shall see in
the following section, the Bolshevik revolution actually was
financed by wealthy financiers in London and New York. Lenin
and Trotsky were on the closest of terms with these moneyed
interests-both before and after the Revolution. Those hidden
liaisons have continued to this day and occasionally pop to the
surface when we discover a David Rockefeller holding confidential
meetings with a Mikhail Gorbachev in the absence of government
sponsorship or diplomatic purpose.
It is not unreasonable to imagine a scenario in which the leaders
of the Communist bloc come to realize they cannot hold themselves
in power much longer. There comes a point where even physical
force is not enough, especially when the loyalties of those who hold
the weapons also begin to falter. With economic gangrene creeping
up the legs of their socialist systems, they realize they must obtain
outside financial assistance or perish.
In such a scenario, quiet agreements can be worked out to the
mutual advantage of all negotiators. The plan could be as simple as
a statue-of-liberty play in a college football game: the appearance of
doing one thing as a cover for accomplishing something else. While
LBovard, pp. 18-19.
124
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
Americans are prepared to accept such deception on a football
field, they cannot believe that world financiers and politicians are
capable of it. The concept is rejected out of hand as a "conspiracy
theory."
Nevertheless, in this scenario, we theorize it is agreed among
the negotiators that the Soviet Bloc needs financial support. It is
agreed that the Western nations have the capacity to provide it. It is
agreed that the best way to move money from the industrialiZed
nations into the Soviet bloc is through international agencies such
as the IMF /World Bank. It is agreed this cannot happen until
hostility between world systems is replaced by political conver-
gence. It is agreed that future conflict is wasteful and dangerous to
all parties. Therefore, it is finally agreed that the Soviet bloc must
abandon its posture of global aggression while the Western nations
continue to move toward socialism, necessary steps for the long-
range goal of merger into a world government. But, in doing so, it
must be insured that the existing Communist leaders retain control
over their respective states.
COMMUNISTS BECOME SOOAL DEMOCRATS
To that end, they change their public identities to "Social
Democrats." They speak out against the brutal excesses of their
predecessors and they offer greater freedom of expression in the
media. A few dispensable individuals among their ranks are
publicly purged as examples of the demise of the old order. States
that once were held captive by the Soviet Union are allowed to
break away and then return on a voluntary basis. If any leaders of
the newly emancipated states prefer true independence instead of
alignment with Russia, they are replaced.
No other changes are required. Socialism remains the economic
system of choice and, although lip service may be given to
free-market concepts, the economy and all means of production
remain under state control. The old Communists are now Social
Democrats and, without exception, they become the leaders in the
new system.
The West rejoices, and the money starts to move. As an extra
bonus, the former Bolsheviks are now hailed by the world as great
statesmen who put an end to the Cold War, brought freedom to
their people, and helped to forge a New World Order.
BUILDING THE NEW WORLD ORDER 125
When did Communism depart? We are not quite sure. All we
know is that one day we opened our newspapers and it was
accomplished. Social Democrats were everywhere. No one could
find any Communists. Russian leaders spoke as long-time enemies
of the old regime. Peristroika was here. Communism was dead. It
was not killed by an enemy. It voted itself out of existence. It
conunitted suicide!
Does it not seem strange that Communism fell without a
struggle? Is it not curious that the system which was born out of
class conflict and revolution and which maintained itself by force
and violence for almost a century just went away on its own?
Communism was not overthrown by people rising up with clubs
and pitchforks to throw off their yoke of tyranny. There was no
revolution or counterrevolution, no long period of fragmentation,
no bloody surges between opposing forces. Poof! It just happened.
True, there was blood in the streets in those areas where opposing
groups vied for power, but that was after Communism had
departed, not before. Such an event had never occurred in history.
Until then, it had been contrary to the way governments act;
contrary to the very nature of power which never surrenders
without a life-and-death struggle. This, indeed, is a great curios-
ity-which should cause people to think.
Our premise is that the so-called demise of Communism is a
Great Deception-not awfully different from many of the others
that are the focus of this volume. We see it as having been stage
managed for the purposes outlined previously: the transition to
world government. In our view, that scenario is the only one that
makes s ~ n s e in terms of today's geopolitical realities and the only
one conSIStent with the lessons of history.
. ~ e realize, of course, that such a view runs contrary to popular
opimon and conventional wisdom. For many, it is shocking just to
~ e a r it spelled out. It would not be possible to convince anyone of
Its truth without extensive evidence. Certainly, such evidence
abounds, but it is not within the scope of this study. So, now that
We have stated it, we shall leave it behind merely as a clarification
of the a th' . f' th
. u or s pornt 0 View so e reader can step around it if he
WIshes.
126 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
EASTERN EUROPE
American aid to Eastern European governments, while they
were still puppet states of the Soviet Union, has been justified by
the same theory advanced on behalf of China: it would improve
their economies, show their people a better way of life, and wean
them from Communism. Advocates of that theory now point to the
demise of Communism as evidence of the soundness of their plan.
The truth, however, is that the money did not improve the economy
and did not show the people a better way of life. In fact, it did not
help the people in any way. It went directly to their governments
and was used for government priorities. It strengthened the ruling
parties and enabled them to solidify their controL
It is well known that one of the reasons Poland's economy was
weak is that much of her productive output was shipped to the
Soviet Union at concessionary prices, primarily to support the
military. Polish-built tanks fought in the Vietnam war; 20% of the
Soviet merchant marine was built in Poland; 70% of Poland's
computer and locomotive production and 80% of her communica-
tions equipment was shipped to the Soviets; American grain
purchased by Poland with money borrowed from American banks
was sent to Cuba. Poland was merely a middle man, a conduit to
Russia and her satellites. The banks were really funding Russia.
It was in 1982 that Poland first defaulted on bank loans which
had been guaranteed by the U.S. government through the Com-
modity Credit Corporation. Under the terms of the guarantee,
taxpayers would make payments on any bank loan that went into
default. That was what the banks were counting on when they
made those loans, but to classify them as "in default" would
require the banks to remove them from their books as assets. That
was unacceptable, because it would make their balance sheets look
as bad as they really were. So the Treasury agreed to bend the rules
and make payments without requiring the loans to be in default.
That was eventually stopped by an irate Congress, but not until the
Reagan Administration had stalled long enough to pay $400
million directly to the banks on behalf of Poland.
In November, 1988, the World Bank made its first loan to
Poland in the amount of $17.9 million. Three years later, in a
dramatic demonstration of what the President had meant when he
advocated "debt forgiveness," the Bush Administration canceled a
BUILDING THE NEW WORLD ORDER
127
full 70% of the $3.8 billion owed to the United States. Taxpayers
picked up the bill.
The same story has been unfolding in all the former
countries. In 1980, for example, just before Hungary was brought
into the IMF/World Bank, her annual per-capita GNP was $4,180.
This was a problem, because the policy of the World Bank was to
make development loans only to countries that had per-capita
GNPs of less .than $2,650. Not to worry. In 1981, the Hungarian
government SImply revised its statistics downward from $4,180 to
$2,100.
1
That was a drop of 50% in one year, surely one of the
sharpest depressions in world history. Everyone knew it was a lie
but no one an eyebrow. It was all part of the game. By 1989:
the Bush Admlrustration had granted "most favored nation" trade
status to the Hungarian government and established on its behalf a
special $25 million development fund.
RUSSIA
banks had always been willing to make loans to the
SovIet for short periods of expediency during the
Cuban MIssIle CnsIs, the Vietnam War, the Soviet invasion of
and minor business interruptions. In 1985, after
the public had lost Interest in Afghanistan, banks of the "free
world" reopened their loan windows to the Soviets. A $400 million
was put together by a consortium of First National of
Chicago, Morgan Guaranty, Bankers Trust, and Irving Trust-plus
a London subSidiary of the Royal Bank of Canada. The loan was
offered at unusually low interest rates "to buy American and
Canadian grain."
Public indignation is easily disarmed when the announced
purpose of a loan to a totalitarian government is to purchase
from the country where the loan originates---€spe-
:ly If the is grain for the assumed purpose of making
ad or feeding lIvestock. Who could possibly object to having the
ro
ney
come right back to our own farmers and merchants in the
t
rm
of profits? And who could fault a project that provided food
or the hungry?
be The is subtly appealing. It is true that the money will
used-In part at least-to buy grain or other locally produced
-
1. "W
gust Courts Eastern Europe," by Jerry Lewis, Wall Street Journal, Au-
128 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
commodities. But the borrowing nations are like a homeowner who
increases the mortgage on his house "to enlarge his living room."
He probably will make the addition, but he borrows twice as much
as he needs so he can also buy a new car. Since the government
allows a tax deduction on mortgage interest, in effect he now gets a
tax deduction for the interest paid on his car as well. Likewise, the
borrowing nations usually borrow more than they need for the
announced purchase, but they receive all the money at favorable
rates.
Yet, this is not the most serious fault in the transaction. In the
case of Russia, the grain was no small item on her list of needs.
After repeated failures of her socialist agriculture, she was not able
to feed her population. Hungry people are dangerous to a govern-
ment. Russia needed grain to head off internal revolt far more than
the homeowner needed to increase the size of his living room. In
other words, Russia had to have the grain, with or without the loan.
Without it, she would have had to curtail spending somewhere else
to obtain the money, most likely in her military. By giving her the
money "to buy grain," we actually allowed her to spend more
money on armaments.
But even that is not the primary flaw in making loans to Russia.
The bottom line is that most of those loans will never be repaid! As
we have seen, the name of the game is bailout, and it is as certain as
the setting sun that, somewhere down the line, Russia will not be
able to make her payments, and the taxpayers of the industrialized
nations will be put through the IMF wringer one more time to
squeeze out the transferred purchasing power.
BUSINESS VENTURES IN RUSSIA INSURED BY U.S.
In 1990, the U.S. Export-Import Bank announced it would begin
making direct loans to Russia. Meanwhile, the U.S. Overseas
Private Investment Corporation was providing free "insurance" to
private companies that were willing to invest in the ex-Soviet state.
In other words, it was now doing for industrial corporations what it
had been doing all along for banks: guaranteeing that, if their
investments turned sour, the government-make that taxpayers-
would compensate them for their losses. The limit on that insur-
ance had been $100 million, a generous figure, indeed. But, to
encourage an even greater flow of private capital into Russia, the
BUILDING THE NEW WORLD ORDER 129
Bush Administration authorized unlimited protection for "sound
American corporate investments."
If these truly were sound investments, they would not need
foreign-aid subsidies or government guarantees. What is really
happening in this play is a triple score:
1. Intemationallending agencies provide the Social Democrats with
money to purchase goods and services from American firms. No
one really expects them to repay. It is merely a clever method of
redistributing wealth from those who have it to those who
don't-without those who have it catching on.
2. American firms do not need money to participate. Since their
ventures are guaranteed, banks are anxious to loan whatever
amount of money is required. Efficiency or competitiveness are
not important factors. Contracts are awarded on the basis of
political influence. Profits are generous and without risk.
3. When the Social Democrats eventually default in their contracts
to the American firms or when the joint venture loses money
because of socialist mismanagement, the federal government
provides funds to cover corporate profits and repayment of
bank loans.
There you have it: The Social Democrats get the goodies; the
corporations get the profits, and the banks get the interest on
money created out of nothing. You know what the taxpayers get!
By 1992, the wearisome pattern was clearly visible. Writing in
the New York Times, columrust Leslie H. Gelb gave the numbers:
The ex-Soviet states are now meeting only 30 percent of their
interest payments (and almost no principal) on debts to the West of
$70 billion .... Various forms of Western aid to the ex-Soviet states
totaled about $50 billion in the last 20 months, and the money has
disappeared without a trace or a dent on the economic
pIcture.
The interesting thing about this report is that Leslie Gelb has
been a member of the CFR since 1973. Why would a CFR
spokesman blow the whistle on one of their most important
maneuvers toward The New World Order? The answer is that he is
doing just the opposite. Actually he is making a plea for more loans
"The Russian Sinkhole," by Leslie H. Gelb, New York Times, March 30,1992, p.
-A17.
130
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
and more outright aid on the basis that the need is so great! He
advocates the prioritizing of funding with first attention to aiding
Russia's nuclear-power facilities, agriculture, and industrial capac-
ity. At the end of his article, he writes: "The stakes could not be
higher. All the more reason for substantial, practical and immediate
aid-not for grand illusions."
Congress hears and obeys. In spite of the fact that all the
preceding billions have "disappeared without a trace or a dent,"
the transfusion continues. In 1993 the World Bank advanced
another half-billion-dollar loan to Russia; before leaving office,
President Bush arranged for another $2 billion loan through the
Export-Import Bank; and Congress authorized hitting the voters
with another $2.5 billion in foreign aid earmarked specifically for
Russia. In July, at the Tokyo summit meeting of the Group-of-
Seven industrialized nations, another $24 billion was promised,
half of which will come from the IMF. As this book goes to print,
there is no end in sight.
THE CONSPIRACY THEORY
A moment's reflection on the events described in this section
leads us to a crossroads of conscience. We must choose between
two paths. Either we conclude that Americans have lost control
over their government, or we reject this information as a mere
distortion of history. In the first case, we become advocates of the
conspiratorial view of history. In the latter, we endorse the acciden-
tal view. It is a difficult choice.
The reason it is difficult is that we have been conditioned to
laugh at conspiracy theories, and few people will risk public
ridicule by advocating them. On the other hand, to endorse
accidental view is absurd. Almost all of history is an unbroken traIl
of one conspiracy after another. Conspiracies are the norm, not the
exception.
The industrialized nations of the world are being bled to near
death in a global transfer of their wealth to the less developed
countries. Is it being done according to plan? Or is it an accident?
is not being done to them by their enemies. It is being done by thetr
own leaders. The process is well coordinated across national lines
and perfectly dovetails with the actions of other leaders who are
doing the same thing to their respective countries.
these leaders regularly meet together to better coordinate their
BUILDING THE NEW WORLD ORDER 131
activities. Could anything that complex be accomplished by acci-
dent? Or would some kind of a plan be required?
A spokesman from the IMF would answer, yes, there is a plan,
and it is to aid the less developed countries. But, after forty years
and hundreds of billions of dollars, they have totally failed to
accomplish that goal. Would intelligent people believe that pursu-
ing the same plan will produce different results in the future? Then
why do they follow a plan that cannot work? The answer is they are
not following that plan. They are following a different one: one
which has been very successful from their point of view. Other-
wise, we must conclude that the leaders of the industrialized
nations are, to a man, just plain stupid. We do not believe it.
There is little room to escape the conclusion that these men and
women are following a higher loyalty than the self interest of their
respective countries. In their hearts they may honestly believe that,
in the long run, the world will be better for it, including their fellow
countrymen. But, for the present, their goals and their methods are
not shared by those who have placed them in office. Under those
circumstances, they must conceal their plan from public view. If
their fellow citizens really knew what they were doing, they would
be thrown out of office and, in some cases, might even be shot as
traitors. Add all that together and it spells CONSPIRACY.
The only other explanation is that it's all accidental: no plan, no
cooperation, no goal, just the blind forces of history following the
path of least resistance. For some it will be easier and more
comfortable to accept that model. But the evidence speaks loudly
against it. What is the evidence? Not just the previous chapters, but
everything that follows in this book. By contrast, the evidence for
the accidental theory of history is - a blank page.
SUMMARY
The international version of the game called Bailout is similar to
the domestic version in that the overall objective is to have the
taxpayers cover the defaulted loans so that interest payments can
going to the banks. The differences are: (1) instead of
JUstifying this as protecting the American public, the pretense is
it is to save the world from poverty; and (2) the main money
Pipeline goes from the Federal Reserve through the IMF/World
Bank. Otherwise, the rules are baSically the same.
132 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
There is another dimension to the game, however, that involves
more than mere profits and scam. It is the conscious and deliberate
evolution of the IMF /World Bank into a world central bank with
the power to issue a world fiat currency. And that is an important
step in an even larger plan to build a true world government within
the framework of the United Nations.
Economically strong nations are not candidates for surrender-
ing their sovereignty to a world government. Therefore, through
"loans" that will never be paid back, the IMF /World Bank directs
the massive transfer of wealth from the industrialized nations to
the less developed nations. This ongoing process eventually drains
their economies to the point where they also will be in need of
assistance. No longer capable of independent action, they will
accept the loss of sovereignty in return for international aid.
The less developed countries, on the other hand, are being
brought into The New World Order along an entirely different
route. Many of these countries are ruled by petty tyrants who care
little for their people except how to extract more taxes from them
without causing a revolt. Loans from the IMF /World Bank are
used primarily to perpetuate themselves and their ruling parties in
power-and that is exactly what the IMF /World Bank intends.
Rhetoric about helping the poor notwithstanding, the true goal of
the transfer of wealth disguised as loans is to get control over the
leaders of the less developed countries. After these despots get
used to the taste of such an unlimited supply of sweet cash, they
will never be able to break the habit. They will be content-already
are content-to become little gold-plated cogs in the giant machin-
ery of world government. Ideology means nothing to them: capital-
ist, communist, socialist, fascist, what does it matter so long as the
money keeps coming. The IMF /World Bank literally is buying these
countries and using our money to do it.
The recent inclusion of Red China and the former Soviet bloc on
the list of IMF /World Bank recipient countries signals the final
phase of the game. Now that Latin America and Africa have been
"purchased" into the New World Order, this is the final frontier. In
a relatively short time span, China, Russia, and the Eastern
European countries have now become the biggest borrowers and,
already, they are in arrears on their payments. This is where the -
action will lie in the months ahead.
Section II
A CRASH COURSE
ON MONEY
The eight chapters contained in this and the
following section deal with material that is
organized by topic, not chronology. Several of
them will jump ahead of events that are not
covered until later. Furthermore, the scope is such
that the reader may wonder what, if any, is the
connection with the Federal Reserve System.
Please be patient. The importance will eventually
become clear. It is the author's intent to cover
concepts and principles before looking at events.
Without this background, the history of the
Federal Reserve is boring. With it, the story
emerges as an exciting drama which profoundly
affects our lives today. So let us begin this
adventure with a few discoveries about the
nature of money itself.
Chapter Seven
THE BARBARIC METAL
The history and evolution of money; the emer-
gence of gold as the universal money supply; the
attempts by governments to cheat their subjects
by clipping or debasing gold coins; the reality that
any quantity of gold will suffice for a monetary
system and that "more money" does not require
more gold.
There is a great mystique surrounding the nature of money. It is
generally regarded as beyond the understanding of mere mortals.
Questions of the origin of money or the mechanism of its creation
are seldom matters of public debate. We accept them as facts of life
which are beyond our sphere of control. Thus, in a nation which is
founded on the principle of government by the people, and which
assumes a high level of understanding among the electorate, the
people themselves have blocked out one of the most important
factors affecting, not only their government, but their personal lives
as well.
This attitude is not accidental, nor was it always so. There was a
time in the fairly recent past when the humble voter-even without
formal education-was well informed on money matters and
vitally concerned about their political implementation. In fact, as
we shall see in a later chapter, major elections were won or lost
depending on how candidates stood on the issue of a central bank.
It has been in the interest of the money mandarins, however, to
convince the public that, now, these issues are too complicated for
novices. Through the use of technical jargon and by hiding simple
reality inside a maze of bewildering procedures, they have caused
an understanding of the nature of money to fade from the public
consciousness.
WHAT IS MONEY?
The first step in this maneuver was to scramble the definition of
money itself. For example, the July 20, 1975 issue of the New York
136 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
Times, in an article entitled "Money Supply: A Growing Muddle,"
begins with the question: "What is money nowadays?" The Wall
Street Journal of August 29,1975, comments: "The men and women
involved in this arcane exercise [of watching the money supply] '"
aren't exactly sure what the money supply consists of." And, in its
September 24,1971 issue, the same paper said: "A pro-International
Monetary Fund Seminar of eminent economists couldn't agree on
what money is or how banks create it."
Even the government cannot define money. Some years ago, a
Mr. A.F. Davis mailed a ten-dollar Federal Reserve Note to the
Treasury Department. In his letter of transmittal, he called attention
to the inscription on the bill which said that it was redeemable in
"lawful money," and then requested that such money be sent to
him. In reply, the Treasury merely sent two five-dollar bills from a
different printing series bearing a similar promise to pay. Mr. Davis
responded:
Dear Sir:
Receipt is hereby acknowledged of two $5.00 United States notes,
which we interpret from your letter are to be considered as lawful
money. Are we to infer from this that the Federal Reserve notes are not
lawful money?
I am enclosing one of the $5.00 notes which you sent to me. I note
that it states on the face, "The United States of America will pay to the
bearer on demand five dollars." I am hereby demanding five dollars.
One week later, Mr. Davis received the following reply from
Acting Treasurer, M.E. Slindee:
Dear Mr. Davis:
Receipt is acknowledged of your letter of December 23rd,
transmitting one $5. United States Note with a demand for payment of
five dollars. You are advised that the term "lawful money" has not
been defined in federal legislation .... The term "lawful currency" no
longer has such special significance. The $5. United States Note
received with your letter of December 23rd is returned herewith.
1
The phrases " ... will pay to the bearer on demand" and " ... is
redeemable in lawful money" were deleted from our currenCY
altogether in 1964.
1. As quoted by C.V. Myers, Money and Energy: Weathering the Storm (Darien,
Connecticut: Soundview Books, 1980), pp. 161, 163. Also by Lawrence S. Ritter, ed·,
Money and Economic Activity (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1967), p. 33.
THE BARBARIC METAL 137
Is money really so mysterious that it cannot be defined? Is it the
coin and currency we have in our pockets? Is it numbers in a
checking account or electronic impulses in a computer? Does it
include the balance in a savings account or the available credit on a
charge card? Does it include the value of stocks and bonds, houses,
land, or personal possessions? Or is money nothing more than
purchasing power?
The main function of the Federal Reserve is to regulate the
supply of money. Yet, if no one is able to define what money is,
how can we have an opinion about how the System is performing?
The answer, of course, is that we cannot, and that is exactly the way
the cartel wants it.
The reason the Federal Reserve appears to be a complicated
subject is because most discussions start somewhere in the middle.
By the time we get into it, definitions have been scrambled and
basic concepts have been assumed. Under such conditions, intellec-
tual d:taos is inevitable. If we start at the beginning, however, and
deal with each concept in sequence from the general to the specific,
and if we agree on definitions as we go, we shall find to our
amazement that the issues are really quite simple. Furthermore, the
process is not only painless, it is-believe it or not-intensely
interesting.
The purpose of this and the next three chapters, therefore, is to
provide what could be called a crash course on money. It will not be
complicated. In fact, you already know much of what follows. All
we shall attempt to do is tie it all together so that it will have
continuity and relativity to our subject. When you are through with
these next few pages, you will understand money. That's a promise.
So, let's get started with the basics. What is money?
A WORKING DEFINITION
The dictionary is of little help. If economists cannot agree on
is, it is partly due to the fact that there are so marty
defirutIOns available that it is difficult to insist that any of them is
the obvious choice. For the purpose of our analysis, however, it will
be necessary to establish one definition so we can at least know
What is meant when the word is used within this text. To that end,
sha.ll introduce our own definition which has been assembled
0111 bIts and dabs taken from numerous sources. The structure is
deSigned, not to reflect what we think money ought to be or to
138 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
support the view of any particular school of economics, but simply
to reduce the concept to its most fundamental essence and to reflect
the reality of today's world. It is not necessary to agree or disagree
with this definition. It is introduced solely for the purpose of
providing an understanding of the word as it is used within these
pages. This, then, shall be our working definition: .
Money is anything which is accepted as a medIUm of exchange
and it may be classified into the following forms:
1. Commodity money
2. Receipt money
3. Fiat money
4. Fractional money
Understanding the difference between these forms of money is
practically all we need to know to fully comprehend the Federal
Reserve System and to come to a judgment regarding its value to
our economy and to our nation. Let us, therefore, examine each of
them in some detail.
BARTER (PRE-MONEY)
Before there was any kind of money, however, there was barter,
and it is important first to understand the link between the two.
Barter is defined as that which is directly exchanged for something
of like value. Mr. Jones swaps his restored Model-T Ford for a
Steinway grand piano.
1
This exchange is not monetary in nature
because both items are valued for themselves rather than held as a
medium of exchange to be used later for something else. Note,
however, that both items have intrinsic value or they would not be
accepted by the other parties. Labor also may be exchanged as
barter when it, too, is perceived to have intrinsic value to th.e
person for whom the labor is performed. The concept of intrinSIC
value is the key to an understanding of the various forms of money
that evolved from the process of barter.
COMMODITY MONEY
In the natural evolution of every society, there always
been one or two items which became more commonly used In
1. Strictly speaking, each party holds the value of what he is receiving t<.> be more
than what he is giving. Otherwise he would not make the trade. In the mmd of the
traders, therefore, the items have unequal value. That opinion is shared equally by
them both. The shorter explanation, however, is less unwieldy.
THE BARBARIC METAL
139
barter than all others. This was because they had certain charac-
teristics which made them useful or attractive to almost everyone.
Eventually, they were traded, not for themselves, but because they
represented a of value which be exchanged a
later time for something else. At that pomt, they ceased bemg
barter and became true money. They were, according to our
working definition, a medium of exchange. And, since that medium
was a commodity of intrinsic value, it may be described as
commodity money.
Among primitive people, the most usual item to become
commodity money was some form of food, either produce or
livestock. Lingering testimony to this fact is our word pecuniary,
which means pertaining to money. It is derived from the word
pecunia, which is the Latin word for cow.
But, as society progressed beyond the level of bare existence,
items other than food came into general demand. Ornaments were
occasionally prized when the food supply was ample, and there is
evidence of some societies using colored sea shells and unusual
stones for this purpose. But these never seriously challenged the
use of cattle, or sheep, or com, or wheat, because these staples
possessed greater intrinsic value for themselves even if they were
not used as money.
METALS AS MONEY
Eventually, when man learned how to refine crude ores and to
craft them into tools or weapons, the metals themselves became of
value. This was the dawning of the Bronze Age in which iron,
copper, tin, and bronze were traded between craftsmen and
merchants along trade routes and at major sea ports.
The value of metal ingots was originally determined by weight.
Then, as it became customary for the merchants who cast them to
the uniform weights on the top, they eventually were valued
SImply by counting their Although they were too large to
carry in a pouch, they were still small enough to be transported
easily and, in this form, they became, in effect, primitive but
functional coins.
The primary reason metals became widely used as commodity
money is that they meet all of the requirements for convenient
trading. In addition to being of intrinsic value for uses other than
money, they are not perishable, which is more than one can say for
140 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
cows; by melting and reforming they can be divided into smaller
units and conveniently used for purchases of minor items, which is
not possible with diamonds, for example; and, because they are not
in great abundance, small quantities carry high value, which means
they are more portable than such items as timber, for example.
Perhaps the most important monetary attribute of metals,
however, is their ability to be precisely measured. It is important to
keep in mind that, in its fundamental form and function, money is
both a storehouse and a measure of value. It is the reference by
which all other things in the economy can be compared. It is
essential, therefore, that the monetary unit itself be both measur-
able and constant. The ability to precisely assay metals in both
purity and weight makes them ideally suited for this function.
Experts may haggle over the precise quality of a gemstone, but an
ingot of metal is either 99% pure or it isn't, and it either weighs 100
ounces or it doesn't. One's opinion has little to do with it. It is not
without reason, therefore, that, on every continent and throughout
history, man has chosen metals as the ideal storehouse and
measure of value.
THE SUPREMACY OF GOLD
There is one metal, of course, that has been selected by
centuries of trial and error above all others. Even today, in a world
where money can no longer be defined, the common man instinc-
tively knows that gold will do just fine until something better
comes along. We shall leave it to the sociologists to debate why gold
has been chosen as the universal money. For our purposes, it is
only important to know that it has been. But we should not
overlook the possibility that it was an excellent choice. As for
quantity, there seems to be just the right amount to keep its value
high enough for useful coinage. It is less plentiful than silver
-which, incidentally, has run a close second in the monetary
contest-and more abundant than platinum. Either could have
served the purpose quite well, but gold has provided what appears
to be the perfect compromise. Furthermore, it is a commodity in
great demand for purposes other than money. It is sought for both
industry and ornament, thus assuring its intrinsic value under all
conditions. And, of course, its purity and weight can be precisely -
measured.
THE BARBARIC METAL 141
THE MISLEADING THEORY OF QUANTITY
It often is argued that gold is inappropriate as money because it
is too limited in supply to satisfy the needs of modern commerce.
On the surface, that may sound logical-after all, we do need a lot
of money out there to keep the wheels of the economy turning-
but, upon examination, this turns out to be one of the most childish
ideas imaginable.
First of all, it is estimated that approximately 45% of all the gold
mined throughout the world since the discovery of America is now
in government or banking stockpiles.
1
There undoubtedly is at
least an additional 30% in jewelry, ornaments, and private hoards.
Any commodity which exists to the extent of 75% of its total world
production since Columbus discovered America can hardly be
described as in short supply.
The deeper reality, however, is that the supply is not even
important. Remember that the primary function of money is to
measure the value of the items for which it is exchanged. In this
sense, it serves as a yardstick or ruler of value. It really makes no
difference if we measure the length of our rug in inches, feet, yards,
or meters. We could even manage it quite well in miles if we used
decimals and expressed the result in millimiles. We could even use
multiple rulers, but no matter what measurement we use, the
reality of what we are measuring does not change. Our rug does
not become larger just because we have increased the quantity of
measurement units by painting additional markers onto our rulers.
If the supply of gold in relation to the supply of available goods
is so small that a one-ounce coin would be too valuable for minor
transactions, people simply would use half-ounce coins or tenth-
ounce coins. The amount of gold in the world does not affect its
ability to serve as money, it only affects the quantity that will be
used to measure any given transaction.
Let us illustrate the point by imagining that we are playing a
game of Monopoly. Each person has been given a starting supply
of play money with which to transact business. It doesn't take long
before We all begin to feel the shortage of cash. If we just had more
money, we could really wheel and deal. Let us suppose further that
someone discovers another game-box of Monopoly sitting in the
~ Elgin Groseclose, Money and Man: A survey of Monetary Experience, 4th ed.
ahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1976), p. 259.
142 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
closet and proposes that the currency from that be added to the
game under progress. By general agreement, the little bills are
distributed equally among all players. What would happen?
The money supply has now been doubled. We all have twice as
much money as we did a moment before. But would we be any
better off? There is no corresponding increase in the quantity of
property, so everyone would bid up the prices of existing pieces
until they became twice as expensive. In other words, the law of
supply and demand would rapidly seek exactly the same equilib-
rium as existed with the more limited money supply. When the
quantity of money expands without a corresponding increase in
goods, the effect is a reduction in the purchasing power of each
monetary unit. In other words, nothing really changes except that
the quoted price of everything goes up. But that is merely the quoted
price, the price as expressed in terms of the monetary unit. In truth,
the real price, in terms of its relationship to all other prices, remains
the same. It's merely that the relative value of the money supply
has gone down. This, of course, is the classic mechanism of
inflation. Prices do not go up. The value of the money goes down.
If Santa Claus were to visit everyone on Earth next Christmas
and leave in our stockings an amount of money exactly equal to the
amount we already had, there is no doubt that many would rejoice
over the sudden increase in wealth. By New Year's day, however,
prices would have doubled for everything, and the net result on the
world's standard of living would be exactly zero.
1
The reason so many people fall for the appealing argument that
the economy needs a larger money supply is that they zero in only
on the need to increase their supply. If they paused for a moment to
reflect on the consequences of the total supply increasing, the
nonsense of the proposal becomes immediately apparent.
Murray Rothbard, professor of economics at the University of
Nevada at Las Vegas, says:
We come to the startling truth that it doesn't matter what the supply
of money is. Any supply will do as well as any other supply. The free
market will simply adjust by changing the purchasing power, or
effectiveness, of its gold-unit. There is no need whatever for any
planned increase in the money supply, for the supply to rise to offset
1. Those who rushed to market first, however, would benefit temporarily frorn the '
old prices. Under inflation, those who save are punished.
THE BARBARIC METAL
143
a.t1y condition, or to follow any artificial criteria. More money does not
supply more capital, is not more productive, does not permit
. th ,,1
"econorruc grow .
GOLD GUARANTEES PRICE STABILITY
The Federal Reserve claims that one of its primary objectives is
to stabilize prices. In this, of course, it has failed miserably. The
irony, however, is that maintaining stable prices is the easiest thing
in the world. All we have to do is stop tinkering with the money
supply and let the free market do its job. Prices become automat-
ically stable under a commodity money system, and this is particu-
larly true under a gold standard.
E.conomists to the workings of the marketplace by
creatmg hypothetical mIcro and macro economies in which every-
thing is reduced to only a few factors and a few people. In that
spirit, therefore, let us create a hypothetical economy consisting of
only two classes of people: gold miners and tailors. Let us suppose
that the law of supply and demand has settled on the value of one
ounce of gold to be equal to a fine, custom-tailored suit of clothes.
That means that the labor, tools, materials, and talent required to
mine and refine one ounce of gold are equally traded for the labor,
tools, and talent required to weave and tailor the suit. Up until
now, the number of ounces of gold produced each year have been
roughly the number of fine suits made each year, so prices
have remaIned stable. The price of a suit is one ounce of gold, and
the value of one ounce of gold is equal to one finely-tailored suit.
Let us now suppose that the miners, in their quest for a better
standard of living, work extra hours and produce more gold this
yea.r than previously-or that they discover a new lode of gold
increases the available supply with little extra effort.
th ow thmgs are no. longer in balance. There are more ounces of gold
an there are SUltS. The result of this expansion of the money
over and above the supply of available goods is the same as
our game of Monopoly. The quoted prices of the suits go up
the relative value of the gold has gone down.
th e process does not end there, however. When the miners see
at they are no better off than before in spite of the extra work and
especiall h h " . '
y w en t ey see the tailors making a greater profIt for no

COlor . Rothbard, What Has Government Done to OUT Money? (Larkspur,
a o. Pme Tree Press, 1964), p. 13.
144 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
increase in labor, some of them decide to put down their picks and
turn to the trade of tailoring. In other words, they are responding to
the law of supply and demand in labor. When this happens, the
annual production of gold goes down while the production of SUits
goes up, and an equilibrium is reached once again in which suits
and gold are traded as before. The free market, if unfettered by
politicians and money mechanics, will always maintain a stable
price structure which is automatically regulated by the underlying
factor of human effort. The human effort required to extract one
ounce of gold from the earth will always be approximately equal to
the amount of human effort required to provide the goods and
services for which it is freely exchanged.
CIGARETTES AS MONEY
A perfect example of how commodities tend to self-regulate
their value occurred in Germany at the end of World War II. The
German mark had become useless, and barter was common. But
one item of exchange, namely cigarettes, actually became a com-
modity money, and they served quite welL Some cigarettes were
smuggled into the country, but most of them were brought in by
u.s. servicemen. In either case, the quantity was limited and the
demand was high. A single cigarette was considered small change.
A package of twenty and a carton of two hundred served as larger
units of currency. If the exchange rate began to fall too low-in
other words, if the quantity of cigarettes tended to expand at a rate
faster than the expansion of other goods-the holders of the
currency, more than likely, would smoke some of it rather than
spend it. The supply would diminish and the value would return 1
0
its previous equilibrium. That is not theory, it actually happened.
With gold as the monetary base, we would expect that
improvements in manufacturing technology would gradually
reduce the cost of production, causing, not stability, but a downward
movement of all prices. That downward pressure, however, is
partially offset by an increase in the cost of the more sophisticated
tools that are required. Furthermore, similar technological efficien-
cies are being applied in the field of mining, so everything tends to
balance out. History has shown that changes in this natural
equilibrium are minimal and occur only gradually over a long
1. See Galbraith, p. 250.
THE BARBARIC METAL 145
period of time. For example, in 1913, the year the Federal Reserve
was enacted into law, the average annual wage in America was
$633. The exchange value of gold that year was $20.67. That means
that the average worker earned the equivalent of 30.6 ounces of
gold per year.
In 1990, the average annual wage had risen to $20,468. That is a
whopping increase of 3,233 per cent, an average rise of 42 per cent
each year for 77 years. But the exchange value of gold in 1990 had
also risen. It was at $386.90 per ounce. The average worker,
therefore, was earning the equivalent of 52.9 ounces of gold per
year. That is an increase of only 73 per cent, a rise of less than 1 per
cent per year over that same period. It is obvious that the dramatic
increase in the size of the paycheck was meaningless to the average
American. The reality has been a small but steady increase in
purchasing power (about 1 per cent per year) that has resulted from
the gradual improvement in technology. This and only this has
improved the standard of living and brought down real prices-as
revealed by the relative value of gold.
In areas where personal service is the primary factor and where
technology is less important, the stability of gold as a measure of
value is even more striking. At the Savoy Hotel in London, one
gold sovereign will still buy dinner for three, exactly as it did in
1913. And, in ancient Rome, the cost of a finely made toga, belt, and
pair of sandals was one ounce of gold. That is almost exactly the
same cost today, two-thousand years later, for a hand-crafted suit,
belt, and a pair of dress shoes. There are no central banks or other
institutions which could even come close to providing that
kind of price stability. And, yet, it is totally automatic under a gold
Standard.
In any event, before leaving the subject of gold, we should
acknowledge that there is nothing mystical about it. It is merely a
COmmodity which, because it has intrinsic value and possesses
certain qualities, has become accepted throughout history as a
rnedium of exchange. Hitler waged a campaign against gold as a
:001 of Jewish bankers. But the Nazis traded heavily in gold and
argely fInanced their war machine with it. Lenin claimed that gold
\Vas used only to keep the workers in bondage and that, after the
it would be used to cover the floors of public lavatories.
b. Soviet Union under Communism became one of the world's
Iggest producers and users of gold. Economist John Maynard
146
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
Keynes once dismissed gold as a "barbaric
of Keynes today are heavily invested in gold. It IS entirely possible,
of course, that something other than gold would be better as the
basis for money. It's just that, in over two thousand years, no one
has been able to find it.
NATURAL LAW NO.1
The amazing stability of gold as a measure of value is simply
the result of human nature reacting to the forces of supply and
demand. The process, therefore, may be stated as a natural law of
human behavior:
LESSON: When gold (or silver) is used as money and when
the forces of supply and demand are not thwarted by
government intervention, the amount of new metal. added to the
money supply will always be closely proportional
expanding services and goods which can be purchased wlth It.
Long-term stability of prices is the dependable result of these
forces. This process is automatic and impartial. Any by
politicians to intervene will destroy the benefIt for all.
Therefore,
LAW: Long-term price stability is possible only the
money supply is based upon the gold (or silver) supply wlthout
government interference.
As the concept of money was slowly developing in the of
ancient man it became obvious that one of the advantages of usmg
gold or silv:r as the medium of exchange was that, because of their
rarity as compared to copper or iron, great could be
represented by small size. Tiny ingots could be carned m a pouch
or fastened to a belt for ease of transportation. And, of course, they
could be more readily hidden for safekeeping. Goldsmiths then
began to fashion them into round discs and to put their stamps on
them to attest to purity and weight. In this way, the world's first
coins began to make their appearance. . .
It is believed that the first precious metal coms were mmted by
the Lydians in Asia Minor (now Northwest Turkey), in
B.c. The Chinese used gold cubes as early as 2100 B.c. But It was
n
until the kings stepped into the picture that true coinage became a
reality. It was only when the state certified the tiny discs that they
became widely accepted, and it is to the Greeks more than anyone .
that we owe this development. Groseclose describes the result:
THE BARBARIC METAL 147
These light, shining discs, adorned with curious new emblems and
a variety of vigorous, striking images, made a deep impression on
both Greek and barbarian. And to the more practical minded, the
abundance of uniform pieces of metal, each of a standard weight,
certified by the authority of the state, meant a release from the
cumbersomeness of barter and new and dazzling opportunities in
every direction ....
All classes of men succumbed to money, and those who had
formerly been content to produce only for their needs and the
necessities of the household, found themselves going to the market
place with their handicraft, or the fruits of their toil, to exchange them
for the coins they might obtain.
l
EXPANDING THE MONEY SUPPLY BY COIN CLIPPING
From the very beginning, the desire for a larger money supply
led to practices which were destructive to the economy. Unscrupu-
lous merchants began to shave off a tiny portion of each coin they
handled-a process known as coin clipping-and then having the
shavings melted down into new coins. Before long, the king's
treasury began to do the same thing to the coins it received in taxes.
In this way, the money supply was increased, but the supply of
gold was not. The result was exactly what we now know always
happens when the money supply is artificially expanded. There
was inflation. Whereas one coin previously would buy twelve
sheep, now it would only be accepted for ten. The total amount of
gold needed for twelve sheep never really changed. It's just that
everyone knew that one coin no longer contained it.
As governments became more brazen in their debasement of
the currency, even to the extent of diluting the gold or silver
content, the population adapted quite well by simply "discount-
ing" the new coins. That is to say, they accepted them at a realistic
value, which was lower than what the government had intended.
This was, as always, reflected in a general rise in prices quoted in
terms of those coins. Real prices, in terms of labor or other goods or
even of gold itself remained unchanged.
Governments do not like to be thwarted in their plans to exploit
their SUbjects. So a way had to be found to force people to accept
these slugs as real money. This led to the first legal-tender laws. By
royal decree, the "coin of the realm," was declared legal for the

1. GrOSeclose, Money and Man, p. 13.
148 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
settlement of all debts. Anyone who refused it at face value Was
subject to fine, imprisonment, or, in some cases, even death. The
result was that the good coins disappeared from circulation and
went into private hoards. After all, if the government forces you to
accept junk at the same rate of exchange as gold, wouldn't you
keep the gold and spend the junk? That is what happened in
America in the '60s when the mint began to issue cheap metal
tokens to replace the silver dimes, quarters, and half-dollars.
Within a few months, the silver coins were in dresser drawers and
safe-deposit boxes. The same thing has happened repeatedly
throughout antiquity. In economics, that is called Gresham's Law:
"Bad money drives out good."
The final move in this game of legal plunder was for the
government to fix prices so that, even if everyone is using only junk
as money, they can no longer compensate for the continually
expanding supply of it. Now the people were caught. They had no
escape except to become criminals, which most of them, inciden-
tally, chose to do. The history of artificially expanding money is the
history of great dissatisfaction with government, much lawlessness,
and a massive underground economy.
GOLD IS THE ENEMY OF THE WELFARE STATE
In more modem times, rulers of nations have become more
sophisticated in the methods by which they debase the currency.
Instead of clipping coins, it is done through the banking system
The consequences of that process were summarized in 1966 by Alan
Greenspan who, a few years later, would became Chairman of the
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. Greenspan wrote:
The abandonment of the gold standard made it possible for the
welfare statists to use the banking system as a means to an unlimited
expansion of credit ....
The law of supply and demand is not to be conned. As the supply
of money (of claims) increases relative to the supply of tangible assets
in the economy, prices must eventually rise. Thus the earnings saved
by the productive members of the society lose value in terms of goods.
When the economy's books are finally balanced, one finds that this
loss in value represents the goods purchased by the government for
welfare or other purposes ....
In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect
savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of .
value. If there were, the government would have to make its holding
illegal, as was done in the case of gold .... The financial policy of the
THE BARBARIC METAL 149
welfare state requires that there be no way for the owners of wealth to
protect themselves.
This is the shabby ·secret of the welfare statists' tirades against
gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the "hidden"
confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the war of this insidious
process. It stands as a protector of property rights.
Unfortunately, when Greenspan was appointed as Chairman of
the Federal Reserve System, he became silent on the issue of gold.
Once he was seated at the control panel which holds the levers of
power, he served the statists well as they continued to confiscate
the people's wealth through the hidden tax of inflation. Even the
wisest of men can be corrupted by power and wealth.
REAL COMMODITY MONEY IN HISTORY
Returning to the topic of debasing the currency in ancient
times, it must be stated that such practices were by no means
universal. There are many examples throughout history of regents
and kingdoms which used great restraint in money creation.
Ancient Greece, where coinage was first developed, is one of them.
The drachma became the defacto monetary unit of the civilized
world because of the dependability of its gold content. Within its
borders, cities flourished and trade abounded. Even after the fall of
Athens in the Peloponnesian War, her coinage remained, for
centuries, as the standard by which all others were measured.
2
Perhaps the greatest example of a nation with sound money,
however, was the Byzantine Empire. Building on the sound mone-
tary tradition of Greece, the emperor Constantine ordered the
creation of a. gold piece called the solidus and a silver piece
c.aIled the mlizarense. The gold weight of the solidus soon became
at 65 grains and was minted at that standard for the next
eight-hundred years. Its quality was so dependable that it was
freely accepted, under the name bezant, from China to Brittany,
from the Baltic Sea to Ethiopia.
laws regarding money were strict. Before being
admitted to the profession of banking, the candidate had to have
sPonsors who would attest to his character, that he would not file
D ian Greenspan, "Gold and Economic Freedom," in Capitalism: The Unknown
2. Ii ed. Ayn Rand (New York: Signet Books, 1967), p. lOI.
len Yen the Greeks, under Solon, had one, brief experience with a debased cur-
p cy. But it was short lived, and never repeated. See Groseclose, Money and Man,
p. 14,20-54.
150 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
or chip either the solidi or the milwrensw, and that he would not
issue false coin. Violation of these rules called for cutting off a
hand.
1
It is an amazing fact of history that the Byzantine Empire
flourished as the center of world commerce for eight-hundred
years without falling into bankruptcy nor, for that even into
debt. Not once during this period did it devalue Its money.
"Neither the ancient nor the modern world," says Heimich Gelzer,
U can offer a complete parallel to this phenomenon. This prodigious
stability ... secured the bezant as universal currency. On account of its
full weight, it passed with all the neighboring nations as a valid
medium of exchange. By her money, Byzantium controlled both the
civilized and the barbarian worlds."
2
BAD COMMODITY MONEY IN HISTORY
The experience of the Romans was quite different. Basically a
militaristic people, they had little patience for the niceties of
monetary restraint. Especially in the later Empire, debasement of
the coinage became a deliberate state policy. Every imaginable
means for plundering the people was devised. In addition to
taxation, coins were clipped, reduced, diluted, and plated. Favored
groups were given franchises for state-endorsed monopolies, the
origin of our present-day corporation. And, amidst
rising prices in terms of constantly expanding money, speculatlon
and dishonesty became rampant.
By the year 301 A.D., mutiny was developing in the army,
remote regions were displaying disloyalty, the treasury was empty,
agriculture depressed, and trade almost at a standstill. It was then
that Diocletian issued his famous price-fixing proclamation as the
last measure of a desperate emperor. We are struck by the
similarity to such proclamations in our own time. Most of
can be traced directly to government policy. Yet, the pohtlClans
point the accusing finger at everyone else for their "greed" and
lldisregard for the common good." Diocletian declared:
1. Le livre du prefet ou l' empereur Leon Ie Sage sur les corporations de Constantinople,
French translation from the Geneva text by Jules Nicole, p. 38. Cited by Groseclose,
Money and Man, p. 52. . .. . Gro
se
- _
2. Byzantininsche Kulturgeschlchte (Tubmgen, 1909), p. 78. As quoted by
close, Money and Man, p. 54.
THE BARBARIC METAL
151
Who is of so hardened a heart and so untouched by a feeling of
humanity that he can be unaware, nay that he has not noticed, that in
the sale of wares which are exchanged in the market, or dealt with in
the daily business of the cities, an exorbitant tendency in prices has
spread to such an extent that the unbridled desire of plundering is
held in check neither by abundance nor by seasons of plenty ....
Inasmuch as there is seen only a mad desire without control, to pay no
heed to the needs of the many, ... it seems good to us, as we look into the
future, to us who are the fathers of the people, that justice intervene to
settle matters impartially.l
What followed was an incredibly detailed list of mandated
prices for everything from a serving of beer or a bunch of
watercress to a lawyer's fee and a bar of gold. The result?
Conditions became even worse, and the royal decree was rescinded
five years later.
The Roman Empire never recovered from the crisis. By the
fourth century, all coins were weighed, and the economy was
slipping back into barter again. By the seventh century, the weights
themselves had been so frequently changed that it was no longer
possible to effect an exchange in money at all. For all practical
purposes, money became extinct, and the Roman Empire was no
more.
RECEIPT MONEY
When new civilizations rose from the ruins of Rome, they
reclaimed the lost discovery of money and used it to great
advantage. The invention was truly a giant step forward for
mankind, but there were many problems yet to be solved and
much experimentation lay ahead. The development of paper
money was a case in point. When a man accumulated more coins
than he required for daily purchases, he needed a safe place to store
them. The goldsmiths, who handled large amounts of precious
metals in their trades, had already built sturdy vaults to protect
their own inventory, so it was natural for them to offer vault space
to their customers for a fee. The goldsmith could be trusted to
guard the coins well because he also would be guarding his own
Wealth.
When the coins were placed into the vault, the warehouseman
Would give the owner a written receipt which entitled him to

1. As quoted by Groseclose, Money and Man, pp. 43-44.
152 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
withdraw at any time. At first, the only way the coins could be
taken from the vault was for the owner to personally present the
receipt. Eventually, however, it became customary for the owner to
merely endorse his receipt to a third party who, upon presentation
could make the withdrawal. These endorsed receipts were th;
forerunners of today's checks.
The final stage in this development was the custom of issuing,
not just one receipt for the entire deposit, but a series of smaller
receipts, adding up to the same total, and each having printed
across the top: PAY TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND. As the population
learned from experience that these paper receipts were truly
backed by good coin in the goldsmith's warehouse and that the
coin really would be given out in exchange for the receipts, it
became increasingly common to use the paper instead of the coin.
Thus, receipt money came into existence. The paper itself was
useless, but what it represented was quite valuable. As long as the
coin was held in safe keeping as promised, there was no difference
in value between the receipt and the coin which backed it. And, as
we shall see in the next chapter, there were notable examples of the
honest use of receipt money at the very beginning of the develop-
ment of banking. When the receipt was scrupulously honored, the
economy moved forward. When it was used as a gimmick for the
artificial expansion of the money supply, the economy convulsed
and stagnated.
NATURAL LAW NO.2
This is not a textbook on the history of money, so we cannot
afford the luxury of lingering among the fascinating details. For our
purposes, it is sufficient to recognize that human behavior in these
matters is predictable and, because of that predictability, it is
possible to formulate another principle that is so universal that it,
too, may be considered a natural law. Drawing from the vast
experience of this early period, it can be stated as follows:
LESSON: Whenever government sets out to manipulate the
money supply, regardless of the intelligence or good intentions
of those who attempt to direct the process, the result is inflation,
economic chaos, and political upheaval. By contrast, whenever
government is limited in its monetary power to only the
maintenance of honest weights and measures of precioUS
THE BARBARIC METAL
153
metals, the result is price stability, economic prosperity, and
political tranquility. Therefore,
For nation to enjoy economic prosperity and
polItical tranqUIlIty, the monetary power of its politicians must
be limited solely to the maintenance of honest weights and
measures of precious metals.
As we shall see in the following chapters, the centuries of
monetary upheaval that followed that early period contain no
evidence that this law has been repealed by modern man.
SUMMARY
Knowledge of the nature of money is essential to an under-
the Reserve. Contrary to common belief, the
topIC IS neIther nor complicated. For the purposes of
this money IS as anything which is accepted as a
medIUm of exchange. BUIldIng on that, we find there are four kinds
of money: commodity, receipt, fiat, and fractional. Precious metals
the first commodity money to appear in history and ever
SInce have been proven by actual experience to be the only reliable
base for an honest monetary system. Gold, as the basis of money,
can . take several forms: bullion, coins, and fully backed paper
receIpts. Man has been plagued throughout history with the false
theory that quantity of money is important, specifically that
money IS better than less. This has led to perpetual manipula-
of the money supply through such practices as
cllppmg, debasement of the coin content, and, in later centu-
nes, the issuance of more paper receipts than there was gold to
them. In every case, these practices have led to economic and
polItical disaster. In those rare instances where man has refrained
from the money supply and has allowed it to be
determmed by free-market production of the gold supply, the
result has been prosperity and tranquility.
Chapter Eight
FOOL'S GOLD
The history of paper money without precious-
metal backing forced on the public by government
decree; the emergence of our present-day
fractional-reserve banking system based on the
issuance of a greater amount of receipts for gold
than the bank has in gold to back them up.
We previously have broken down the concept of money into
four categories: commodity, receipt, fiat, and fractional. In the last
chapter we examined commodity and receipt money in some
detail. In doing so, we also established certain monetary principles
which apply regardless of their form. We shall now tum to the
remaining two categories, both of which are represented by paper
and which are at the root of almost all of modem man's economic
woes.
FIAT MONEY
The American Heritage Dictionary defines fiat money as "paper
money decreed legal tender, not backed by gold or silver." The two
characteristics of fiat money, therefore, are (1) it does not represent
anything of intrinsic value and (2) it is decreed legal tender. Legal
tender simply means that there is a law requiring everyone to
accept the currency in commerce. The two always go together
because, since the money really is worthless, it soon would be
rejected by the public in favor of a more reliable medium of
exchange, such as gold or silver coin. Thus, when governments
issue fiat money, they always declare it to be legal tender under
pain of fine or imprisonment. The only way a government can
exchange its worthless paper money for tangible goods and
services is to give its citizens no choice.
The first notable use of this practice was recorded by Marco
Polo during his travels to China in the thirteenth century. The
famous explorer gives us this account:
156 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
The Emperor's mint then is in this same City of Cambaluc, and the
way it is wrought is such that you might say he hath the Secret of
Alchemy in perfection, and you would be right!...
What they take is a certain fine white bast or skin which lies
between the wood of the tree and the thick outer bark, and this they
make into something resembling sheets of paper, but black. When
these sheets have been prepared they are cut up into pieces of different
sizes. The smallest of these sizes is worth a half tomesel. .. . There is
also a kind worth one Bezant of gold, and others of three Bezants, and
soup to ten.
All these pieces of paper are issued with as much solemnity and
authority as if they were of pure gold or silver; and on every piece, a
variety of officials, whose duty it is, have to write their names and to
put their seals. And when all is prepared duly, the chief officer
deputed by the Kaan smears the Seal entrusted to him with vermilion
and impresses it on the paper, so that the form of the Seal remains
stamped upon it in red; the money is then authentic. Anyone forging
it would be punished with death. And the Kaan causes every year to
be made such a vast quantity of this money, which costs him nothing,
that it must equal in amount all the treasures in the world:
With these pieces of paper, made as I have described, he causes all
payments on his own account to be made, and he makes them to pass
current universally over all his Kingdoms .... And nobody, however
important he may think himself, dares to refuse them on pain of death.
And indeed everybody takes them readily.1
One is tempted to marvel at the Kaan's audacious power and
the subservience of his subjects who endured such an outrage; but
our smugness rapidly vanishes when we consider the similarity to
our own Federal Reserve Notes. They are adorned with signatures
and seals; counterfeiters are severely punished; the government
pays its expenses with them; the population is forced to accept
them; they-and the "invisible" checkbook money into which they
can be converted-are made in such vast quantity that it must
equal in amount all the treasures of the world. And yet they cost
nothing to make. In truth, our present monetary system is an
almost exact replica of that which supported the warlords of seven
centuries ago.
1.. from. Henry Thule's edition of Marco Polo's Travels, reprinted in W.
Vlssenng, On Chmese Currency: Coin and Paper Money (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1877),
reprinted 1968 by Ch'eng-wen Publishing Co., Taiwan, as dted by Anthony Sutton,
The War on Gold (Seal Beach, California: '76 Press, 1977), pp. 26-28.
FOOL'S GOLD 157
THE COLONIAL EXPERIENCE
Unfortunately, the present situation is not unique to our
history. In fact, after China, the next place in the world to adopt the
use of fiat money was America; specifically, the Massachusetts Bay
Colony. This event has been described as "not only the origin of
paper money in America, but also in the British Empire, and almost
in the Christian world."l
In 1690, Massachusetts launched a military raid against the
French colony in Quebec. She had done this before and, each time,
had brought back sufficient plunder to more than pay for the
expedition. This time, however, the foray was a dismal failure, and
the men returned empty handed. When the soldiers demanded
their pay, Massachusetts found its coffers empty. Disgruntled
soldiers have a way of becoming unruly, so the officials scrambled
for some way to raise the funds. Additional taxes would have been
extremely unpopular, so they decided simply to print paper
In order to convince the soldiers and the citizenry to accept
It, the government made two solemn promises: (1) it would redeem
the paper for gold or silver coin just as soon as there was sufficient
tax revenue to do so, and (2) absolutely no additional paper notes
would ever be issued. Both pledges were promptly broken. Only a
few months later, it was announced that the original issue was
insufficient to discharge the government's debt, and a new issue
almost six times greater was put into circulation. The currency
wasn't redeemed for nearly forty years, long after those who had
made the pledge had faded from the scene.
A CLASSIC PATTERN
. of the other colonies were quick to learn the magic of the
pnnting press, and the history that followed is a classic example of
cause and effect: Governments artificially expanded the money
supply through the issuance of fiat currency. This was followed by
legal tender laws to force its acceptance. Next came the disappear-
ance of gold or silver coins which went, instead, into private hoards
or to foreign traders who insisted on the real thing for their wares.
Many of the colonies repudiated their previous money by issuing
new bills valued at multiples of the old. Then came political
1. Ernest Ludlow Bogart, Economic History of the American People (New York:
Longmans, Green and Co., 1930), p. 172.
158
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
discontent and civil disobedience. And at the end of each ;:ycle
there was rampant inflation and economic chaos.
In 1703, South Carolina declared that its money was "a good
payment and tender in law" and then that, should anyone
refuse to honor it as such, they would be fmed an amount equal to
"double the value of the bills so refused." By 1716, the penalty had
been increased to "treble the value."l
THE PRINTING PRESS AND INFLATION
Benjamin Franklin was an ardent proponent of fiat
during those years and used his great influence to sell Idea to
the public. We can get some idea of the of the times
noting that, in 1736, writing in Frankhn
apologized for its irregular and that the
printer was "with the Press, labourmg for the publick Good, to
make Money more plentiful.,,2 The printing of money was appar-
entlya major, time-consuming operation.
In 1737, Massachusetts devalued its fiat currency by 66%,
offering one dollar of new currency for three of the old. The
promise was made that, after five years, new money wfuld be
fully redeemed in silver or gold. The promIse was not kept.
By the late 1750s, Connecticut had price inflated by 800%. The
Carolinas had inflated 900%. Massachusetts 1000%. Rhode Island
2300%.4 Naturally, these inflations all had to come to an end and,
when they did, they turned into equally massive deflations and
depressions. It has been shown that, even in colonial times, the
classic booms and busts which modern economists are fond of
blaming on an "unbridled free market" actually were direct
manifestations of the expansion and contraction of fiat
which no longer was governed by the laws of supply and demand.
1. Statutes at Large of South Carolina, II. 211,665, as cited George !"
Plea for the Constitution (Originally published by Harpers m 1886. Reprmted m
Sewanee, Tennessee: Spencer Judd Publishers, 1982), p. 7.
2. Leonard W. Labaree, ed., The Papers of Benjamin Franklin (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1960), Vol. 2, p. 159.
3. Province Laws, II. 826, cited by Bancroft, p. 14. .
4. Ron Paul and Lewis Lehrman, The Case for Gold (Washington, D.C.: Cato InstI-
tute, 1982), p. 22. Also Sutton, The War on Gold, p. 44. ,
5. See Donald L. Kemmerer, "Paper Money in New Jersey, New
Jersey Historical Society, Proceedings 74 (Apri11956): pp. 107-144, as Cited by Paul
and Lehrman, The Case for Gold, p. 22.
FOOL'S GOLD 159
By this time, coins had completely disappeared from the scene.
Som.e were in private hoards, but most of them had been exported
to other countries, leaving the colonies with little choice but to use
fiat money or barter. Merchants from abroad were interested in
neither of those, however, and international trade ground almost to
a halt.
A BLESSING IN DISGUISE
The experiment with fiat money was a calamity to the colonists,
but it was also a thorn in the side of the Bank of England. The bank
had used its influence with the Crown to forbid the colonies to mint
their own coins or to establish local banks. This meant that, if the
colonists wanted the convenience of paper money, they would be
forced to use the notes issued by the Bank of England. No one had
anticipated that the colonial governments would be so inventive as
to create their own paper money. So, in 1751, Great Britain began to
pressure the colonies to redeem all of their currency and withdraw
it from circulation. This they eventually did, and at bargain prices.
By then, their fiat money was heavily discounted in the m.arket
place and the governments were able to buy back their own
currency for pennies on the dollar.
The decree from the British Parliament, although heavily
resented by the colonists, turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
The paper notes of the Bank of England never did become a
primary medium of exchange. Probably because of their recent bad
experience with paper money, the colonists merely brought what
few gold and silver coins they had out of hiding and returned to a
true commodity-money system. At first, the doomsdayers pre-
dicted this would spell further ruin for the colonial economy.
"There isn't enough money" was the all-too-familiar cry. But there
Was, indeed, quite enough for, as we have already seen, any
amount is sufficient.
TOBACCO BECOMES MONEY
There was, in fact, a period in which other commodities became
accepted as a secondary medium of exchange. Such items as nails,
lumber, rice, and whisky filled the monetary void, but tobacco was
the most common. Here was a commodity which was in great
demand both within the colonies and for overseas commerce. It
had intrinsic value; it could not be counterfeited; it could be
divided into almost any denominational quantity; and its supply
160
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
could not be increased except by the exertion of labor. In other
words, it was regulated by the law of supply and demand, which
gave it great stability in value. In many ways, it was an ideal
money. It was officially adopted as such by Virginia in 1642 and a
few years later by Maryland, but it was used unofficially in all the
other colonies, as well. So close was the identity of tobacco with
money that the previous fiat currency of New Jersey, not. a tobacco
growing state, displayed a picture of a tobacco leaf on Its face. It
also carried the inscription: "To counterfeit is Death." Tobacco was
used in early America as a secondary medium of exchange for
about two-hundred years, until the new Constitution declared that
money was, henceforth, the sole prerogative of the federal govern-
ment.
The primary currency at that juncture, however, was still gold
and silver coin, or specie, as it is called. And the immediate result of
returning to a sound monetary unit was a rapid recovery from the
economic stagnation previously inflicted by the booms and busts of
fiat money. Trade and production rose dramatically, and this, in
turn, attracted an inflow of gold and silver coin from around the
world, filling the void that had been created by years of worthless
paper. The law of supply and demand was visibly at work. For a
while, Massachusetts had returned to specie while Rhode Island
remained on fiat money. The result was that Newport, which had
been the trade center for the West Indies, lost its trade to Boston
and became an empty port.
2
After the colonies had returned to
coin, prices quickly found their natural equilibrium and then stayed
at that point, even during the Seven Years War and the disruption
of trade that occurred immediately prior to the Revolution.
3
There
is no better example of the fact that economic systems in distress
can and do recover rapidly if government does not interfere with
the natural healing process.
WAR BRINGS A RETURN OF FIAT MONEY
The War for Independence brought all of this to a sudden halt.
Wars are seldom funded out of the existing treasury, nor are they
even done so out of increased taxes. If governments were to levy
1. Galbraith, pp. 48-50.
2. Paul and Lehrman, pp. 22-23. .
3. "The Colonial Monetary Standard of Massachusetts," by Roger W. WeISS,
Economic History Review, No. 27, November, 1974, p. 589.
FOOL'S GOLD 161
taxes on their citizens fully adequate to finance the conflict, the
amount would be so great that many of even its most ardent
supporters would lose enthusiasm. By artificially increasing the
money supply, however, the real cost is hidden from view. It is still
paid, of course, but through inflation, a process that few people
understand.
The American Revolution was no exception. In order to pay the
bill for independence, both the Confederation and the individual
states went heavily into the printing business. At the beginning of
the war in 1775, the total money supply stood at $12 million. In
June of that year, the Continental Congress issued another
$2 million. Before the notes were even put into circulation, another
$1 million was authorized. By the end of the year, another
$3 million. In 1776, another $19 million. $13 million in 1777.
$64 million in 1778. $125 million in 1779. And still more: the
Continental Army issued its own "certificates" for the purchase of
supplies totalling $200 million. A total of $425 million in five years
on top of a base of $12 million is an increase of over 3500%. And, in
addition to this massive expansion of the money supply on the part
of the central government, it must be remembered that the states
were doing exactly the same thing. It is estimated that, in just five
years from 1775 to the end of 1779, the total money supply
expanded by 5000%. By contrast, the amount raised in taxes over
the five-year period was inconsequential, amounting to only a few
million dollars.
AND A MASSIVE INFLATION
The first exhilarating effect of this flood of new money was the
flush of apparent prosperity, but that was quickly followed by
inflation as the self-destruct mechanism began to operate. In 1775,
paper Continentals were traded for one dollar in gold. In 1777, they
were exchanged for twenty-five cents. By 1779, just four years from
their issue, they were worth less than a penny. The phrase "Not
worth a Continental" has its origin in this dismal period. Shoes sold
for $5,000 a pair. A suit of clothes cost a million.
It was in that year that George Washington wrote, "A wagon
load of money will scarcely purchase a wagon load of!oprovisions.,,1
1. Quoted by Albert S. Bolles, The Financial History of the United States (New York:
D. Appleton, 18%, 4th ed.), Vol. I, p. 132.
162 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
Even Benjamin Franklin began to see the light. In a mO..Jd of
sarcasm, he wrote:
This Currency, as we manage it, is a wonderful machine. It
performs its Office when we issue it; it pays and clothes Troops and
provides Victuals and Ammunition; and when we are obliged to issue
a Quantity excessive, it pays itself off by Depreciation.
1
When speaking of deficit spending, it is common to hear the
complaint that we are saddling future generations with the bill for
what we enjoy today. Why not let those in the future help pay for
what will benefit them also? Don't be deceived. That is a miscon-
ception encouraged by politicians to calm the public. When money
is fiat, as the colonists discovered, every government building,
public work, and cannon of war is paid out of current labor and
current wealth. These things must be built today with today's labor,
and the man who performs that labor must also be paid today. It is
true that interest payments fall partly to future generations, but the
initial cost is paid by those in the present. It is paid by loss of value
in the monetary unit and loss of purchasing power for one's wages.
INFLATION IS A HIDDEN TAX
Fiat money is the means by which governments obtain instant
purchasing power without taxation. But where does that purchas-
ing power come from? Since fiat money has nothing of tangible
value to offset it, government's fiat purchasing power can be
obtained only by subtracting it from somewhere else. It is, in fact,
"collected" from us all through a decline in our purchasing power.
It is, therefore, exactly the same as a tax, but one that is hidden from
view, silent in operation, and little understood by the taxpayer.
In 1786, Thomas Jefferson provided a clear explanation of this
process when he wrote:
Every one, through whose hands a bill passed, lost on that bill
what it lost in value during the time it was in his hands. This was a real
tax on him; and in this way the people of the United States actually
contributed those ... millions of dollars during the war, and by a
of taxation the most oppressive of all because the most unequal of all.
1. Letter to Samuel Cooper, April 22, 1779, quoted by Albert Henry Smyth, ed., The
Writings of Benjamin Franklin, (New York: Macmillan, 1906), Vol. VII, p. 294.
2. Thomas Jefferson, Observations on the Article Etats-Unis Prepared for the
Encyclopedia, June 22,1786, from Writings (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1894),
Vol. IV, p. 165.
FOOL'S GOLD
163
ENTER PRICE CONTROLS AND LEGAL TENDER LAWS
As prices skyrocketed, the colonies enacted wage and price
controls, which was like plugging up the whistle on a tea kettle in
hopes of keeping the steam from escaping. When that failed, there
followed a series of harsh legal tender laws. One law even invoked
the specter of treason. It said: "If any person shall hereafter be so
lost to all virtue and regard for his Country as to refuse to receive
said bills in payment ... he shall be deemed, published, and treated
as an enemy in this Country and precluded from all trade or
intercourse with the inhabitants of these colonies.,,1
Rhode Island not only levied a heavy fine for non-acceptance of
its notes but, upon a second offense, an individual was stripped of
citizenship. When a court declared the act unconstitutional, the
legislature called the before it and summarily dismissed the
offenders from office.
ENTER ECONOMIC CHAOS AND INSURRECTION
If the ravages of war were a harsh burden for the colonies to
bear, the havoc of fiat money was equally so. After the war,
inflation was followed by deflation as reality returned to the
market place. Prices fell drastically, which was wonderful for those
who were buying. But, for the merchants who were selling or the
farmers who had borrowed heavily to acquire property at inflated
wartime prices, it was a disaster. The new, lower prices were not
adequate to sustain their fixed, inflated mortgages, and many
hard-working families were ruined by foreclosure. Furthermore,
most people still did not understand the inflation process, and
there were many who continued to advocate the "paper money
cure." Several of the states were receptive to the pressure, and their
printing presses continued to roll.
Historian Andrew McLaughlin recalls a typical scene in Rhode
Island at that time as witnessed by a visiting Frenchman:
A French traveler who passed through Newport about this time
gives a dismal picture of the place: idle men standing with folded arms
at corners of the .streets; houses falling to ruins; miserable shops
offermg for sale nothmg but a few coarse stuffs; ... grass growing in the
streets; windows stuffed with rags; everywhere announcing misery,
1. David Ramsay, History of the American Revolution (London: Johnson and Stock-
dale, 1791), Vol. II, pp. 134-36. ...
2. Merrill Jensen, The New Nation (New York: Vintage Books, 1950), p. 324.
164
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
the triumph of paper money and the influence of bad The
merchants had closed their stores rather than take payment m paper;
farmers from neighboring states did not care to bring their produce.
1
Idleness and economic depression also led to outbursts of
rebellion and insurrection. In 1786, George Washington wrote to
James Warren: liThe wheels of government are clogged and ... we
are descending into the vale of confusion and darkness.,,2 Two
years later, in a letter to Henry Knox, he said: "If ... any person had
told me that there would have been such formidable rebellion as
exists, I would have thought him a bedlamite, a fit subject for a
madhouse.,,3
Fortunately, there is a happy ending to that part of the story. As
we shall see in a subsequent chapter, when the state delegates
assembled to draft the Constitution, the effects of fiat money were
so fresh in their minds they decided to put an end to it once and for
all. Then, the new republic not only rapidly recovered but went on
to become the economic envy of the world-for a while, at
least-until the lesson had been forgotten by following generations.
But that is getting ahead of our story. For now, we are dealing with
the topic of fiat money; and the experience of the American
colonies is a classic example of what always happens when men
succumb to its siren call.
NATURAL LAW NO.3
Let us pause at this point and observe another of those lessons
derived from centuries of experience. That lesson is so clear and so
universal and so widely seen throughout history that it may be
stated as a natural law of human behavior:
LESSON: Fiat money is paper money without
precious-metal backing and which people are required by law
to accept. It allows politicians to increase spending without
raising taxes. Fiat money is the cause of inflation, and the
amount which people lose in purchasing power is exactly
amount which was taken from them and transferred to thelf
government by this process. Inflation, therefore, is a hidden tax.
1. Andrew C. McLaughlin, The Confederation and the Constitution (New York:
Collier Books, 1962), pp. 107-08. .
2. Harry Atwood, The Constitution Explained (Merrimac, Massachusetts: Deshny
Publishers, 1927; 2nd ed. 1962), p. 3.
3. Ibid., p. 4.
FOOL'S GOLD 165
This tax is the most unfair of all because it falls most heavily on
those who are least able to pay: the small wage earner and those
on fixed incomes. It also punishes the thrifty by eroding the
value of their savings. This creates resentment among the
people, leading always to political unrest and national disunity.
Therefore,
LAW: A nation that resorts to the use of fiat money has
doomed itself to economic hardship and political disunity.
FRACTIONAL MONEY
Let us turn, now, to the fourth and final possible form of
money: a most intriguing concept called fractional money. And, to
understand how this functions, we must return to Europe and the
practice of the early goldsmiths who stored the precious metal
coins of their customers for a fee.
In addition to the goldsmiths who stored coins, there was
another class of merchants, called "scriveners," who loaned coins.
The goldsmiths reasoned that they, too, could act as scriveners, but
do so with other people's money. They said it was a pity for all that
coin to just sit idle in their vaults. Why not lend it out and earn a
profit which then could be split between themselves and their
depositors? Put it to work, instead of merely gathering dust. They
had learned from experience that very few of their depositors ever
wanted to remove their coins at the same time. In fact, net
withdrawals seldom exceeded ten or fifteen per cent of their
stockpile. It seemed perfectly safe to lend up to eighty or even
eighty-five per cent of their coins. And so the warehousemen began
to act as loan brokers on behalf of their depositors, and the concept
of banking, as we know it today, was born.
That's the way many history books describe it, but there is more
involved here than merely putting idle money to work. First of all,
sharing the interest income with the owners of the deposits was not
part of the original concept. That only became general practice
many years later after the depositors became outraged and needed
to be reassured that these loans were in their interest as well. In the
beginning, they didn't even know that their coins were being
loaned out. They naively thought that the goldsmiths were lending
their own money.
166
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
DEPOSITS ARE NOT AVAILABLE FOR LENDING
In the second place, we need to consider whether the coin in the
vault was even available for lending-regardless of whether or not
the depositors received a part of the profit. Let us suppose that we
are playing a game of poker at the home of Charlie Smith. Each of
us has given $20 to Charlie who, acting as the banker, has put our
money into a shoe box and given us, in return, twenty poker chips.
It is the understanding that, anytime we want to go home, we can
get back a dollar for each chip we have at that time. Now let us
suppose that Charlie's brother-in-law, Larry, shows up, not to play
poker, but to borrow some money. Since six of us are playing and
each has put in $20, there is a total of $120 in the shoe box, and that
turns out to be perfect for Larry's needs. You can imagine what
would happen if Charlie decided to lend out the "idle" money. It is
not available for lending.
Neither Charlie nor any of the players have the right to loan
those dollars, because they are being held in escrow, so to speak,
pending completion of the contract between Charlie and his guests.
Those dollars no longer even exist as money. They have been
replaced-in concept at least-by the poker chips. If any of us are
so touched by Larry's story that we decide to loan him the money
ourselves, we would have to do it with other dollars or cash in our
chips for the dollars in the shoe box. In that case, of course, we
could no longer stay in the game. We cannot spend, loan, or give away
the deposit and also consider the chips to be worth anything.
If you are a member of an organization and have given your
proxy to a friend to vote in your absence at the annual meeting, you
cannot then show up and cast your own vote in addition to your
proxy. Likewise, in the beginning of banking, the certificates which
were circulated as money were, in effect, proxies for the coins.
Consequently, those coins were not available for lending. Their
monetary value had been assigned to the certificates. If the certifi-
cate holders had wanted to lend out their coins, they should have
retired the certificates first. They were not entitled to hold spend-
able paper money and also authorize their banker to lend that same
money as coins. One cannot spend, loan, or give away the coins and also
consider the certificates to be worth anything.
All of this is just common sense. But there is another dimension
to the problem which has to do with honesty in business contracts.
FOOL'S GOLD 167
When the bankers used those coins as the basis for loans, they were
putting themselves in a position of not having enough coin in the
vault to make good on their contracts when it came time for
depositors to take their money home. In other words, the new
contracts were made with the full knowledge that, under certain
circumstances, they would have to be broken. But the bankers
never bothered to explain that. The general public was led to
believe that, if they approved of putting these supposedly idle
funds to work, they would be helping the economy and earning a
little profit besides. It was an appealing proposal, and the idea
caught on like wildfire.
FRACfIONAL-RESERVE BANKING
Most borrowers wanted paper money, of course, not bulky
coins, so, when they received their loans, they usually put the coins
right back into the vault for safekeeping. They were then given
receipts for these deposits which, as we have observed, were readily
accepted in commerce as money. At this point, things began to get
complicated. The original depositors had been given receipts for all
of the bank's coins. But the bank now issued loans in the amount of
eighty-five per cent of its deposits, and the borrowers were given
receipts for that same amount. These were in addition to the original
receipts. That made 85% more receipts than coins. Thus, the banks
created 85% more money and placed it into circulation through their
borrowers. In other words, by issuing phony receipts, they artifi-
cially expanded the money supply. At this point, the certificates
were no longer 100% backed by gold. They now had a backing of
only 54%,
1
but they were accepted by the unsuspecting public as
equal in value to the old receipts. The gold behind all of them,
however, now represented only a fraction of their face value. Thus,
the receipts became what may be called fractional money, and the
process by which they were created is called fractional-reserve
banking.
None of this shortfall, unfortunately, was ever explained. The
bankers decided that it would be better not to discuss reality where
the public could hear. These facts became the arcane secrets of the
profession. The depositors were never encouraged to question how
the banks could lend out their money and still have it on hand to
1. 100 units of gold divided by 185 certificates equals .54
168 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
pay back on an instant's notice. Instead, bankers put on great a:rs of
respectability, stability, and accountability; dressed and acted seri-
ous if not stern; erected great edifices resembling government
buildings and temples, all to bolster the false image of being able to
honor their contracts to pay on demand.
It was John Maynard Keynes who observed:
A "sound" banker, alas! is not one who foresees danger, and
avoids it, but one who, when he is ruined, is ruined in a conventional
and orthodox way along with his fellows, so that no one can readily
blame him. It is necessarily part of the business of a banker to maintain
appearances, and to confess a conventional respectability, which is
more than human. Life-long practices of this kind make them the most
romantic and the least realistic of men.!
CREATING MONEY OUT OF DEBT
Let us step back for a moment and analyze. In the beginning,
banks served as warehouses for the safe keeping of their customers'
coins. When they issued paper receipts for those coins, they
converted commodity money into receipt money. This was a great
convenience, but it did not alter the money supply. People had a
choice of using either coin or paper but they could not use both. If
they used coin, the receipt was never issued. If they used the
receipt, the coin remained in the vault and did not circulate.
When the banks abandoned this practice and began to issue
receipts to borrowers, they became magicians. Some have said they
created money out of nothing, but that is not quite true. What they
did was even more amazing. They created money out of debt.
Obviously, it is easier for people to go into debt than to mine
gold. Consequently, money no longer was limited by the
forces of supply and demand. From that point in history forward, It
was to be limited only by the degree to which bankers have been
able to push down the gold-reserve fraction of their deposits.
From this perspective, we can now look back on fractional
money and recognize that it really is a transitional form between
receipt money and fiat money. It has some of the characteristics of
both. As the fraction becomes smaller, the less it resembles receipt
money and the more closely it comes to fiat money. When the
fraction finally reaches zero, then it has made the complete
1. As quoted by Lever and Huhne, Debt and Danger: The World Financial Crisis
(New York: The Atlantic Monthly, 1986), p. 42.
FOOL'S GOLD
169
transition and becomes pure fiat. Furthermore, there is no example
in history where men, once they had accepted the concept of
fractional money, didn't reduce the fraction lower and lower until,
eventually, it became zero.
No bank can stay in business for very long with a zero reserve.
The only way to make people accept such a worthless currency is
by government force. That's what legal-tender laws are all about.
The transition from fractional-reserve money to fiat money, there-
fore, requires the participation of government through a mecha-
nism which is called a central bank. Most of the balance of this book
will be devoted to a study of that Creature, but, for now, suffice it
to say that the euphoria of being able to create money without
human effort is so great that, once such a narcotic is taken, there is
no politician or banker who can kick the habit. As William Sumner
observed: II A man rnipht as well jump off a precipice intending to
stop half way down."
NATURAL LAW NO.4
And so, once again, we come to one of those natural laws that
emerge from centuries of human experience. It can be stated as
follows:
Fractional money is paper money which is backed
by preaous metals up to only a portion of the face amount. It is
a hybrid, being part receipt money and part fiat money.
Generally, the public is unaware of this fact and believes that
fractional money can be redeemed in full at any time. When the
truth is discovered, as periodically happens, there are runs on
bank, and only the first few depositors in line can be paid.
Smce fractional money earns just as much interest for the
bankers as does gold or silver, the temptation is great for them
to as much of it as possible. As this happens, the fraction
which represents the reserve becomes smaller and smaller until,
eventually, it is reduced to zero. Therefore,
LAW: Fractional money will always degenerate into fiat
money. It is but fiat money in transition.
So much for the overview and generalities. In the next chapter
shall see what history has to say on this process. And what a
history it is!
William Graham Sumner, A History of American Currency (New York: Holt,
884), p. 214.
170 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
SUMMARY
Fiat money is paper money without precious-metal backing
which people are required by law to accept. The first recorded
appearance of fiat money was in thirteenth century China, but its
use on a major scale did not occur until colonial America. The
experience was disastrous, leading to massive inflation, unemploy-
ment, loss of property, and political unrest. During one period
when the Bank of England forced the colonies to abandon then fiat
money, general prosperity quickly returned. The Revolutionary
War brought fiat money back to the colonies with a vengeance. The
economic chaos that resulted led the colonial governments to
impose price controls and harsh legal tender laws, neither of which
were effective.
Fractional money is defined as paper money with precious-
metal backing for part, not all, of its stated value. It was introduced
in Europe when goldsmiths began to issue receipts for gold which
they did not have, thus only a fraction of their receipts was
redeemable. Fractional money always degenerates into pure fiat
money.
Chapter Nine
THE SECRET SCIENCE
The condensed history of fractional-reserve bank-
ing; the unbroken record of fraud, booms, busts,
and economic chaos; the formation of the Bank of
England, the world's first central bank, which
became the model for the Federal Reserve System.
Banks of deposit first appeared in early Greece, concurrent with
the development of coinage itself. They were known in India at the
time of the Great. They also operated in Egypt as part of
the publIc granary system. They appeared in Damascus in 1200 and
Barc:lona in 1401. It was the city-state of Venice, however, which
IS consIdered the cradle of banking as we know it today.
THE BANK OF VENICE
By the year 1361, there already had been sufficient abuse in
banking the Venetian Senate passed a law forbidding bankers
to enga?e m any other commercial pursuit, thus removing the
temptation to use their depositors' funds to finance their own
They were also required to open their books for public
InSpection and to k.eep their stockpile of coins available for viewing
at all reasonable tunes. In 1524, a board of bank examiners was
created and, two years later, all bankers were required to settle
accounts .between themselves in coin rather than by check.
. In spIte of these precautions, however, the largest bank at that
house of Pisano Tiepolo, had been active in lending
agrunst ItS reserves and, In 1584, was forced to close its doors
because inability to refund depositors. The government picked
up the pIeces at that point and a state bank was established, the
Banco della Piazza del Rialto. Having learned from the recent
experience with bankruptcy, the new bank was not allowed to
make any loans. There could be no profit from the issuance of
The bank was required to sustain itself solely from fees for
Com storage, exchanging currencies, handling the transfer of pay-
ments between customers, and notary services.
172
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
The formula for honest banking had been found. The bank
prospered and soon became the center of Venetian commerce. Its
paper receipts were widely the country's
borders and, in fact, instead of bemg dIscounted m exchange for
gold coin as was the usual practice, they actually car?ed a
over coins. This was because there were so many kmds of com m
circulation and such a wide variance of quality within the same
type of coin that one had to be an expert to evaluate worth.
The bank performed this service automatically It. took
coins into its vault. Each was evaluated, and the receIpt gIVen for It
was an accurate reflection of its intrinsic worth. The public,
therefore, was far more certain of the value of the paper receipts
than of many of the coins and, consequently, was willing to
exchange a little bit more for them.. .
Unfortunately, with the passage of hme and the fadmg from
memory of previous banking abuses, the Venetian Senate eventu-
ally succumbed to the temptation of credit. Strapped for nu:
d
.
s

not willing to face the voters with a tax increase, the
decided they would authorize a new bank without restnctions
against loans, have the bank create the money they needed, -:md
then "borrow" it. So, in 1619, the Banco del Giro was formed, which,
like its bankrupt predecessor, began immediately to create money
out of nothing for the purpose of lending it to the government.
Eighteen years later, the Banco della Piazza del Rialto was
into the new bank, and history's first tiny flame of sound bankmg
sputtered and died. . .
Throughout the fifteenth and sIxteenth banks
been springing up all over Europe. Almost WIthout. exception,
however, they followed the lucrative practice of lendmg money
which was not truly available for loan. They created excess
obligations against their reserves and, as a result, e".ery one them
failed. That is not to say that their owners and dIrectors dId not
prosper. It merely means that their depositors lost all or a part of
their assets entrusted for safekeeping.
THE BANK OF AMSTERDAM
It wasn't until the Bank of Amsterdam was founded in 1609 that
we find a second example of sound banking practices, and the
results were virtually the same as previously experienced .by the
Banco della Piazza del Rialto. The bank only accepted depOSIts and
THE SECRET SCIENCE 173
steadfastly refused to make loans. Its income was derived solely
from service fees. All payments in and around Amsterdam soon
came to be made in paper currency issued by the bank and, in fact,
that currency carried a premium over coin itself. The burgomasters
and the city council were required to take an annual oath swearing
that the coin reserve of the bank was intact. Galbraith reminds us:
For a century after its founding it functioned usefully and with
notably strict rectitude. Deposits were deposits, and initially the metal
remained in storage for the man who owned it until he transferred it to
another. None was loaned out. In 1672, when the armies of Louis XIV
approached Amsterdam, there was grave alarm. Merchants besieged
the bank, some in the suspicion that their wealth might not be there.
All who sought their money were paid, and when they found this to be
so, they did not want payment. As was often to be observed in the
future, however desperately people want their money from a bank,
when they are assured they can get it, they no longer want it.
1
The principles of honesty and restraint were not to be long
lived, however. The temptation of easy profit from money creation
was simply too great. As early as 1657, individuals had been
permitted to overdraw their accounts which means, of course, that
the bank created new money out of their debt. In later years
enormous loans were made to the Dutch East Indies Company. The
truth finally became known to the public in January of 1790, and
demands for a return of deposits were steady from that date
forward. Ten months later, the bank was declared insolvent and
was taken over by the City of Amsterdam.
THE BANK OF HAMBURG
The third and last experience with honest banking occurred in
Germany with the Bank of Hamburg. For over two centuries it
faithfully adhered to the principle of safe deposit. So scrupulous
Was its administration that, when Napoleon took possession of the
bank in 1813, he found 7,506,956 marks in silver held against
liabilities of 7,489,343. That was 17,613 more than was actually
needed. Most of the bank's treasure that Napoleon hauled away
was restored a few years later by the French government in the
form of securities. It is not clear if the securities were of much value
but, even if they were, they were not the same as silver. Because of
foreign invasion, the bank's currency was no longer fully convert-
1. Galbraith, p. 16.
174 THE CREA TORE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
ible into coin as receipt money. It was now fractional mone}, and
the self-destruct mechanism had been set in motion. The bank
lasted another fifty-five years until 1871 when it was ordered to
liquidate all of its accounts.
That is the end of the short story of honest banking. From that
point forward, fractional-reserve banking became the universal
practice. But there were to be many interesting twists and turns in
its development before it would be ready for something as sophisti-
cated as the Federal Reserve System.
EARLY BANKING IN ENGLAND
In England, the first paper money was the exchequer order of
Charles II. It was pure fiat and, although it was decreed legal
tender, it was not widely used. It was replaced in 1696 by the
exchequer bill. The bill was redeemable in gold, and the govern-
ment went to great lengths to make sure that there was enough
actual coin or bullion to make good on the pledge. In other words,
it was true receipt money, and it became widely accepted as the
medium of exchange. Furthermore, the bills were considered as
short-term loans to the government and actually paid interest to the
holders.
In 1707, the recently created Bank of England was given the
responsibility of managing this currency, but the bank found more
profit in the circulation of its own banknotes, which were in the
form of fractional money and which provided for the collection of
interest, not the payment of it. Consequently, the government bills
gradually passed out of use and were replaced by banknotes
which, by the middle of the eighteenth century, became England's
only paper money.
It must be understood that, at this time, the Bank of England
was not yet fully developed as a central bank. It had been given a
monopoly over the issue of banknotes within London and other
prime geographic areas, but they were not yet decreed as legal
tender. No one was forced to use them. They were merely private
fractional receipts for gold coin issued by a private bank which the
public could accept, reject, or discount at its pleasure. Legal tender
status was not conferred upon the bank's money until 1833.
Meanwhile, Parliament had granted charters to numerous other
banks throughout the empire and, without exception, the issuance
of fractional money led to their ultimate demise and the ruin of
THE SECRET SCIENCE 175
their depositors. "Disaster after disaster had to come upon the
country," says Shaw, because "of the indifference of the state to
these mere private paper tokens."l The Bank of England, however,
was favored by the government above all others and, time after
time, it was saved from insolvency by Parliament. How it came to
be that way is an interesting story.
THE BANK OF ENGLAND
England was financially exhausted after half a century of war
against France and numerous civil wars fought largely over
excessive taxation. By the time of the War of the League of
Augsberg in 1693, King William was in serious need for new
revenue. Twenty years previously, King Charles II had flat out
repudiated a debt of over a million pounds which had been lent to
him by scores of goldsmiths, with the result that ten-thousand
depositors lost their savings. This was still fresh in everyone's
and, to say, the government was no longer
consIdered a good Investment risk. Unable to increase taxes and
unable to borrow, Parliament became desperate for some other
way to obtain the money. The objective, says Groseclose, was not to
bring "the money mechanism under more intelligent control, but to
provide means outside the onerous sources of taxes and public
loans for the financial requirements of an impecunious govern-
ment.,,2
. There were two groups of men who saw a unique opportunity
?ut necessity. The first group consisted of the political
saentzsts wIthin the government. The second was comprised of the
scientists from the emerging business of banking. The
orgaruzer and spokesman of this group was William Paterson from
Scotland. Paterson had been to America and came back with a
grandiose scheme to obtain a British charter for a commercial
company to colonize the Isthmus of Panama, then known as
Darien. The government was not interested in that, so Paterson
turned his attention to a scheme that did interest it very much, the
creation of money.
. The two groups came together and formed an alliance. No, that
IS too soft a word. The American Heritage Dictionary defines a cabal
W.A. Shaw, Theory and Principles of Central Banking (London & New York: Sir I.
tman & Sons. Ltd., 1930), pp. 32-32.
2. Groseclose, Money and Man, p. 175.
176 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
as II A conspiratorial group of plotters or intriguers." There is no
other word that could so accurately describe this group. With much
of the same secrecy and mystery that surrounded the meeting on
Jekyll Island, the Cabal met in Mercer's Chapel in London and
hammered out a seven-point plan which would serve their mutual
purposes:
1. The government would grant a charter to the monetary scientists
to form a bank;
2. The bank would be given a monopoly to issue banknotes which
would circulate as England's paper currency;
3. The bank would create money out of nothing with only a fraction
of its total currency backed by coin;
4. The monetary scientists then would loan the government all the
money it needed;
5. The money created for government loans would be backed
primarily by government I.O.u.s;
6. Although this money was to be created out of nothing and would
cost nothing to create, the government would pay lIinterest" on
it at the rate of 8%;
7. Government I.o.U.s would also be considered as IIreserves" for
creating additional loan money for private commerce. These
loans also would earn interest. Thus, the monetary scientists
would collect double interest on the same nothing.
1
The circular which was distributed to attract subscribers to the
Bank's initial stock offering explained: liThe Bank hath benefit of
interest on all the moneys which it, the Bank, creates out of
nothing."
2
The charter was issued in 1694, and a strange creature
took its initial breath of life. It was the world's first central bank.
Rothbard writes:
1. For an overview of these agreements, see Murray Rothbard, The Mystery of
Banking (New York: Richardson & Snyder, 1983), p. 180. Also Martin Mayer, The
Bankers (New York: Weybright & Talley, 1974), pp. 24-25.
2. Quoted by Caroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time
(New York: Macmillan, 1 %6), p. 49. Paterson did not benefit from his own creation.
He withdrew from the Bank over a policy disagreement within a few months after
its formation and then returned to Scotland where he succeeded in selling his
Darien scheme. Frugal Scots thronged to buy stock and to book passage to the
fever-ridden land. The stock became worthless and almost all the 1200 colonists lost
their lives.
THE SECRET SCIENCE 177
. In short, there were enough private savers willing to
finance the defICIt, Paterson and hIS group were graciously willing to
buy government bonds, provided they could do so with
bank notes carrying a raft of special
pnvileges WIth them. This was a splendid deal for Paterson and
company, and the government benefited from the flimflam of a
seemingly legitimate bank's financing their debts .... As soon as the
Bank of England was chartered in 1694, King William himself and
various members of Parliament rushed to become shareholders of the
new money factory they had just created.
1
THE SECRET SCIENCE OF MONEY
. Both groups within the Cabal were handsomely rewarded for
theIr efforts. The political scientists had been seeking about
£500,000 to the current war. The Bank promptly gave them
. than twice they originally sought. The monetary
SCIentists started WIth a pledged capital investment of £1,200,000.
Textbooks tell us that this was lent to the government at 8%
interest, but what is usually omitted is the fact that, at the time the
loan was made, only £720,000 had been invested, which means the
Bank IIl0aned" 66% more than it had on hand.
2
Furthermore, the
Bank given the privilege of creating at least an equal amount of
In the form of loans to the public. So, after lending their
capItal to the government, they still had it available to loan out a
second time.
An loan of. their £720,000 at 8% would have yielded
£57,600 Interest. But, WIth the new secret science, they were able to
earn 8% on £1,200,000 given to the government plus an estimated
9% on £720,000 loaned to the public. That adds up to £160,800,
more than 22% on their investment. The real point, however, is
that, under these circumstances, it is meaningless to talk about a
of When money is created out of nothing, the true
Interest rate IS not 8% or 9% or even 22%. It is infinity.
In this first official act of the world's first central bank can be
seen the grand pretense that has characterized all those which have
followed. The Bank pretended to make a loan but what it really did
Was to manufacture the money for government's use. If the govern-
ment had done this directly, the fiat nature of the currency would
1. Rothbard, Mystery, p. 180.
2. See R.D. Richards, Ph.D., The Early History of Banking in England (New York:
Augustus M. Kelley, original edition 1929, reprinted 1965), pp. 14B-50.
178
TBE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
b
nnrnediately recognized, and it probably would not
have een
have been accepted at full face value in for the expenses of
war. By creating money through the bankmg however, the
process became mystifying to the general public. The newly
bills and notes were indistinguishable from those prevIously
backed by coin, and the public was none the wiser.
The reality of central banks, therefore-and we must not forget
that the Federal Reserve System is such a creature-is that, under
the guise of purchasing government bonds, they act as hidden
money machines which can be activated any time the politicians
want. This is a godsend to the political scientists who no longer
must depend on taxes or the good credit of their treasury to raise
money. It is even easier than printing and, because the process is
not understood by the public, it is politically safe.
The monetary scientists, of course, are amply paid for this
service. To preserve the pretense of banking, it is said they collect
interest, but this is a misnomer. They didn't lend money, they
created it. Their compensation, therefore, should be called what it
is: a professional fee, or commission, or royalty, or kickback,
depending on your perspective, but not interest.
FROM INFLATION TO BANK RUNS
The new money created by the Bank of England splashed
through the economy like rain in April. The country banks outside
of the London area Were authorized to create money on their own,
but they had to hold a certain percentage of either coin or Bank of
England certificates in reserve. Consequently, when these plentiful
banknotes landed in their hands, they quickly put them into the
vaults and then issued their own certificates in even greater
amounts. As a result of this pyramiding effect, prices rose 100% in
just two years. Then, the inevitable happened: There was a run on
the bank, and the Bank of England could not produce the coin.
When banks cannot honor their contracts to deliver coin in
return for their receipts, they are, in fact, bankrupt. They should be
allowed to go out of business and liquidate their assets to satisfy
their creditors just like any other business. This, in fact, is what
always had happened to banks which loaned out their deposits and
created fractional money. Had this practice been allowed to con-
tinue, there is little doubt that people eventually would have
understood that they simply do not want to do business with those
THE SECRET SCIENCE
179
of banks. the painful but highly effective process of
tnal and error, mankmd would have learned to distinguish real
money from fool's gold. And the world would be a lot better
because of it today.
That,. of course, was not allowed to happen. The Cabal is a
partnershiP, and each of the two groups is committed to protect each
not out of loyalty, but out of mutual self interest. They know
that, If one falls, so does the other. It is not surprising, therefore,
that, when there was a run on the Bank of England, Parliament
intervened. In May of 1696, just two years after the Bank was
formed, a law was passed authorizing it to "suspend payment in
specie." force of law, the Bank was now exempted from having
to honor Its contract to return the gold.
THE PAITERN OF PROTECTION WAS SET
This was a fateful event in the history of money, because the
precedent has been followed ever since. In Europe and America,
the have always operated with the assumption that their
partners m will come to their aid when they get into
trouble. may speak about "protecting the public," but
the underhrung reality is that the government needs the fiat money
produced by the banks. The banks, therefore-at least the big
ones-.must not allowed to fail. Only a cartel with government
protection can enJoy such insulation from the workings of a free
market.
It is commonly observed in modern times that criminals often
are treated lightly when they rob their neighbor. But if they steal
from the government or a bank, the penalties are harsh. This is
merely another manifestation of the Cabal's partnership. In the
of banks spedaZ, and it has been that way even
the begmrung of theIr brotherhood. For example, Galbraith
us:
. In 1780, Lord George Gordon led his mob through London
m protest the Catholic Relief Acts, the Bank was a principal
It sigrufled the Establishment. For so long as the Catholic
dIStncts of London were being pillaged, the authorities were slow to
When the. siege the Bank began, things were thought more
senous. Troops mtervened, and ever since soldiers have been sent to
guard the Bank by night.
1
Galbraith, p. 34.
180
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
BOOMS AND BUSTS NOW GUARANTEED
Once the Bank of England had been legally protected from the
consequences of converting debt into money, the economy
was doomed to a nauseating roller-coaster nde of mflation, booms,
and busts. The natural and immediate result was the granting of
massive loans for just about any wild scheme Why not?
The money cost nothing to make, and the potential profIts could be
enormous. So the Bank of England, and the country banks which
pyramided their own money supply on top of the Bank's supply,
pumped a steady stream of new into the Great
stock companies were formed and fmanced by this money. One
was for the purpose of draining the Red Sea to. recover the
supposedly lost by the Egyptians when purSUI.ng the
£150,000,000 were siphoned into vague and frUItless ventures m
South America and Mexico.
The result of this flood of new money-how many times must
history repeat it?-was even more inflation. In 1810, the of
Commons created a special committee, called the Select Conuruttee
on the High Price of Gold Bullion, to explore the problem and to
find a solution. The verdict handed down in the final report was a
model of clarity. Prices were not going up, it said. The value .of the
currency was going down, and that was due to the fact that It was
being created at a faster rate than the creation of goods to be
purchased with it. The solution? The committee recommended that
the notes of the Bank of England be made fully convertible into
gold coin, thus putting a brake on the supply of money that could
be created.
IN DEFENSE OF THE GOLD STANDARD
One of the most outspoken proponents of a true gold standard
was a Jewish London stockbroker by the name of David Ricardo.
Ricardo argued that an ideal currency "should be absolutely
invariable in value."l He conceded that precious metals were not
perfect in this regard because they do shift in purchasing power. to
a small degree. Then he said: "They are, however, the best wIth
hi h
. t d ,,2
w c we are acquam e .
1. David Ricardo, The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo: Pamphlets 1815-
1823, Piero Sraffa, ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951), Vol. IV,
p.58.
2. Ibid., p. 62.
THE SECRET SCIENCE 181
Almost everyone in government agreed with Ricardo's assess-
ment, but, as is often the case, theoretical truth was fighting a losing
battle against practical necessity. Men's opinions on the best form
of money were one thing. The war with Napoleon was another, and
it demanded a constant inflow of funding. England continued to
use the central-bank mechanism to extract that revenue from the
populace.
DEPRESSION AND REFORM
By 1815, prices had doubled again and then fell sharply. The
Corn Act was passed that year to protect local growers from
lower-priced imports. Then, when corn and wheat prices began to
climb once more in spite of the fact that wages and other prices
were falling, there was widespread discontent and rebellion. "By
1816," notes Roy Jastram, "England was in deep depression. There
was stagnation of industry and trade generally; the iron and coal
industries were paralyzed.. . . Riots occurred spasmodically from
May through December."l
In 1821, after the war had ended and there was no longer a need
to fund military campaigns, the political pressure for a gold
standard became too strong to resist, and the Bank of England
returned to a convertibility of its notes into gold coin. The basic
central-bank mechanism was not dismantled, however. It was
merely limited by a new formula regarding the allowable fraction
of reserves. The Bank continued to create money out of nothing for
the purpose of lending and, within a year, the flower of a new
business boom unfolded. Then, in November of 1825, the flower
matured into its predestined fruit. The crisis began with the
collapse of Sir Peter Cole and Company and was soon followed by
the failure of sixty-three other banks. Fortunes were wiped out and
the economy plunged back into depression.
. When a similar crisis with still more bank failures struck again
In 1839, Parliament attempted to come to grips with the problem.
After five more years of analysis and debate, Sir Robert Peel
Succeeded in passing a banking reform act. It squarely faced the
cause of England's booms and busts: an elastic money supply. What
Peel's Bank Act of 1844 attempted to do was to limit the amount of
money the banks could create to roughly the same as it would be if
1. Roy W. Jastram, The Golden Constant (New York: Wiley, 1977), p. 113.
182
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
their banknotes were backed by gold or silver. It was a goon try,
but it ultimately failed because it fell short on three counts: (1) It
was a political compromise and was not strict enough, allowing the
banks to still create lending money out of nothing to the extent of
£14,000,000; in other words, a "fractional" amount thought to be
safe at the time; (2) The limitation applied only to paper currency
issued by the Bank. It did not apply to checkbook money, and that
was then becoming the preferred form of exchange. Consequently,
the so-called reform did not even apply to the area where the
greatest amount of abuse was taking place; and (3) The basic
concept was allowed to remain unchallenged that man, in his
infinite political wisdom, can determine what the money supply
should be more effectively than an unmanaged system of gold or
silver responding to the law of supply and demand.
THE ROLLER COASTER CONTINUES
Within three years of the "reform," England faced another crisis
with still more bank failures and more losses to depositors. But
when the Bank of England tottered on the edge of insolvency, once
again the government intervened. In 1847, the Bank was exempted
from the legal reserve requirements of the Peel Act. Such is the
rock-steady dependability of man-made limits to the money
supply.
Groseclose continues the story:
Ten years later, in 1857, another crisis occurred, due to excessive
and unwise lending as a result of over-optimism regarding foreign
trade prospects. The bank found itself in the same position as in 1847,
and similar measures were taken. On this occasion the bank was
forced to use the authority to increase its fiduciary [debt-based money]
issue beyond the limit imposed by the Bank Charter Act.... .
Again in 1866, the growth of banking without sufficient attention
to liquidity, and the use of bank credit to support a speculative
craze ... prepared the way for a crash which was finally precipitated by
the failure of the famous house of Overend, Gurney and Co. The Act of
1844 was once more suspended ....
In 1890, the Bank of England once again faced crisis, again the
result of widespread and excessive speculation in foreign securities,
particularly American and Argentine. This time it was the failure of
Baring Brothers that precipitated the crash.1
1. Groseclose, Money and Man, pp. 195-96.
THE SECRET SCIENCE 183
THE MECHANISM SPREADS TO OTHER COUNTRIES
It is an incredible fact of history that, in spite of the general and
recurring failures of the Bank of England during these years, the
central-bank mechanism was so attractive to the political and
monetary scientists that it became the model for all of Europe. The
Bank of Prussia became the Reichsbank. Napoleon established the
Banque de France. A few decades later, the concept became the
venerated model for the Federal Reserve System. Who cares if the
scheme is destructive? Here is the perfect tool for obtaining
unlimited funding for politicians and endless profits for bankers.
And, best of all, the little people who pay the bills for both groups
have practically no idea what is being done to them.
SUMMARY
The business of banking began in Europe in the fourteenth
century. Its function was to evaluate, exchange, and safeguard
people's coins. In the beginning, there were notable examples of
totally honest banks which operated with remarkable efficiency
considering the vast variety of coinage they handled. They also
issued paper receipts which were so dependable they freely
circulated as money and cheated no one in the process. But there
was a great demand for more money and more loans, and the
temptation soon caused the bankers to seek easier paths. They
began lending out pieces of paper that said they were receipts, but
which in fact were counterfeit. The public could not tell one from
the other and accepted both of them as money. From that point
forward, the receipts in circulation exceeded the gold held in
reserve, and the age of fractional-reserve banking had dawned.
Trjs led immediately to what would become an almost unbroken
record from then to the present: a record of inflation, booms and
busts, suspension of payments, bank failures, repudiation of cur-
rencies, and recurring spasms of economic chaos.
The Bank of England was formed in 1694 to institutionalize
fractional-reserve banking. As the world's first central bank, it
introduced the concept of a partnership between bankers and
politicians. The politicians would receive spendable money (cre-
ated out of nothing by the bankers) without having to raise taxes. In
return, the bankers would receive a commission on the transac-
tion-deceptively called interest-which would continue in perpe-
tuity. Since it all seemed to be wrapped up in the mysterious rituals
184 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
of banking, which the common man was not expected to ll..lder-
stand, there was practically no opposition to the scheme. The
arrangement proved so profitable to the participants that it soon
spread to many other countries in Europe and, eventually, to the
United States.
Chapter Ten
THE MANDRAKE
MECHANISM
The method by which the Federal Reserve creates
money out of nothing; the concept of usury as the
payment of interest on pretended loans; the true
cause of the hidden tax called inflation; the way in
which the Fed creates boom-bust cycles.
In the 1940s, there was a comic strip character called Mandrake
the Magician. His specialty was creating things out of nothing and,
when appropriate, to make them disappear back into that same
void. It is fitting, therefore, that the process to be described in this
section should be named in his honor.
In the previous chapters, we examined the technique developed
by the political and monetary scientists to create money out of noth-
ing for the purpose of lending. This is not an entirely accurate
description because it implies that money is created first and then
waits for someone to borrow it. On the other hand, textbooks on
banking often state that money is created out of debt. This also is
misleading because it implies that debt exists first and then is
converted into money. In truth, money is not created until the
instant it is borrowed. It is the act of borrowing which causes it to
spring into existence. And, incidentally, it is the act of paying off the
debt that causes it to vanish.
1
There is no short phrase that perfectly
describes that process. So, until one is invented along the way, we
shall continue using the phrase II create money out of nothing" and
OCcaSionally add II for the purpose of lending" where necessary to
further clarify the meaning.
1. Printed Federal Reserve Notes that sit in the Treasury's vault do not become
money until they are released into circulation in exchange for checkbook money
that was created by a bank loan. As long as the bills are in the vault with no
debt-based money to replace them, they technically are just paper, not money.
186 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
So let us now leave the historical figures of the past and jump
into "future," in other words, into our present, and see just how
far this money / debt-creation process has been carried-and how it
works.
The first fact that needs to be considered is that our money today
has no gold or silver behind it whatsoever. The fraction is not 54%
nor 15%. It is 0%. It has travelled the path of all previous fractional
money in history and already has degenerated into pure fiat money.
The fact that most of it is in the form of checkbook balances rather
than paper currency is a mere technicality; and the fact that bankers
speak about "reserve ratios" is eye wash. The so-called to
which they refer are, in fact, Treasury bonds and other certificates of
debt. Our money is pure fiat through and through.
The second fact that needs to be clearly understood is that, in
spite of the technical jargon and seemingly complicated procedures,
the actual mechanism by which the Federal Reserve creates money
is quite simple. They do it exactly same goldsmiths of
old did except, of course, the goldsmIths were lImIted by the need to
hold some precious metal in reserve, whereas the Fed has no such
restriction.
THE FEDERAL RESERVE IS CANDID
The Federal Reserve itself is amazingly frank about this process.
A booklet published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York tells
us: "Currency cannot be redeemed, or exchanged, for Treasury gold
or any other asset used as backing. The question of just
'back' Federal Reserve notes has little but bookkeepmg sIgmfi-
,,1
cance.
Elsewhere in the same publication we are told: "Banks are creat-
ing money based on a borrower's promise to pay (the IC?U) ... Banks
create moneY,: by 'monetizing' the private debts of busmesses and
. d"d 1,,2
In IVI ua s.
In a booklet entitled Modern Money Mechanics, the Federal
Reserve Bank of Chicago says:
In the United States neither paper currency nor deposits have
value as commodities. Intrinsically, a dollar bill is just a piece of paper.
Deposits are merely book entries. Coins do have some intrinsic value
as metal, but generally far less than their face amount.
1. I Bet You Thought, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, p. 11.
2. Ibid., p. 19.
THE MANDRAKE MECHANISM
187
What, then, makes these instruments--checks, paper money, and
coins-acceptable at face value in payment of all debts and for other
monetary uses? Mainly, it is the confidence people have that they will
be able to exchange such money for other financial assets and real
goods and services whenever they choose to do so. This partly is a
matter of law; currency has been desigI)ated "legal tender" by the
government-that is, it must be accepted.
1
In the fine print of a footnote in a bulletin of the Federal Reserve
Bank of St. Louis, we find this surprisingly candid explanation:
Modem monetary systems have a fiat base-literally money by
decree-with depository institutions, acting as fiduciaries, creating
obligations against themselves with the fiat base acting in part as
reserves. The decree appears on the currency notes: "This note is legal
tender for all debts, public and private." While no individual could
refuse to accept such money for debt repayment, exchange contracts
could easily be composed to thwart its use in everyday commerce.
However, a forceful explanation as to why money is accepted is that
the federal government requires it as payment for tax liabilities.
Anticipation of the need to clear this debt creates a demand for the
pure fiat dollar.
2
MONEY WOULD VANISH WITHOUT DEBT
It is difficult for Americans to come to grips with the fact that
their total money supply is backed by nothing but debt, and it is
even more mind boggling to visualize that, if everyone paid back all
that was borrowed, there would be no money left in existence. That's
right, there would be not one penny in circulation-all coins and all
paper currency would be returned to bank vaults---and there would
be not one dollar in anyone's checking account. In short, all money
would disappear.
Marriner Eccles was the Governor of the Federal Reserve Sys-
tem in 1941. On September 30 of that year, Eccles was asked to give
testimony before the House Committee on Banking and Currency.
The purpose of the hearing was to obtain information regarding the
role of the Federal Reserve in creating conditions that led to the de-
pression of the 1930s. Congressman Wright Patman, who was
Chairman of that committee, asked how the Fed got the money to
1. Modern Money Mechanics, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, revised October
1982, p. 3.
2. "Money, Credit and Velocity:' Review, May, 1982, Vol. 64, No. 5, Federal
Reserve Bank of st. Louis, p. 25.
188 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
purchase two billion dollars worth of government bonds in 1933.
This is the exchange that followed.
ECCLES: We created it.
PATMAN: Out of what?
ECCLES: Out of the right to issue credit money.
PATMAN: And there is nothing behind it, is there, except OUr
government's credit?
ECCLES: That is what our money system is. If there were no
debts in our money system, there wouldn't be any money.
It must be realized that, while money may represent an asset to
selected individuals, when it is considered as an aggregate of the
total money supply, it is not .an asset at all. A man who borrows
$1,000 may think that he has increased his financial position by that
amount but he has not. His $1,000 cash asset is offset by his $1,000
loan liability, and his net position is zero. Bank accounts are exactly
the same on a larger scale. Add up all the bank accounts in the
nation, and it would be easy to assume that all that money repre-
sents a gigantic pool of assets which support the economy. Yet,
every bit of this money is owed by someone. Some will owe
nothing. Others will owe many times what they possess. All added
together, the national balance is zero. What we think is money is but
a grand illusion The reality is debt.
Robert Hemphill was the Credit Manager of the Federal Reserve
Bank in Atlanta. In the foreword to a book by Irving Fisher, entitled
100% Money, Hemphill said this:
If all the bank loans were paid, no one could have a bank deposit,
and there would not be a dollar of coin or currency in circulation. This
is a staggering thought. We are completely dependent on the
commercial banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in
circulation, cash, or credit. If the banks create ample synthetic money
we are prosperous; if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a
permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp of the
picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless situation is almost
incredible-but there it is.
1
With the knowledge that money in America is based on debt, it
should not come as a surprise to learn that the Federal Reserve
System is not the least interested in seeing a reduction in debt in this
1. Irving Fisher, 100% Money (New York: Adelphi, 1936), p. xxii.
THE MANDRAKE MECHANISM 189
country, regardless of public utterances to the contrary. Here is the
bottom line from the System's Own publications. The Federal
Reserve Bank of Philadelphia says: "A large and growing number of
analysts, on the other hand, now regard the national debt as some-
thing useful, if not an actual blessing .... [They believe] the national
debt need not be reduced at all.,,1
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago adds: "Debt-public and
private-is here to stay. It plays an essential role in economic proc-
esses .... What is required is not the abolition of debt, but its prudent
use and intelligent management.,,2
WHAT'S WRONG WITH A LITTLE DEBT?
There is a kind of faScinating appeal to this theory. It gives those
who expound it an aura of intellectualism, the appearance of being
able to grasp a complex economic principle that is beyond the com-
prehension of mere mortals. And, for the less academically minded,
it offers the comfort of at least sounding moderate. After all, what's
wrong with a little debt, prudently used and intelligently managed?
The answer is nothing, provided the debt is based on an honest trans-
action. There is plenty wrong with it if it is based upon fraud.
An honest transaction is one in which a borrower pays an
agreed upon sum in return for the temporary use of a lender's asset.
That asset could be anything of tangible value. If it were an automo-
bile, for example, then the borrower would pay "rent." If it is
money, then the rent is called "interest." Either way, the concept is
the same.
When we go to a lender-either a bank or a private party-and
receive a loan of money, we are willing to pay interest on the loan in
recognition of the fact that the money we are borrowing is an asset
which we want to use. It seems only fair to pay a rental fee for that
a:>set to the person who owns it. It is not easy to acquire an automo-
bIle, and it is not easy to acquire money-real money, that is. If the
money we are borrOWing was earned by someone's labor and talent,
they are fully entitled to receive interest on it. But what are we to
think of money that is created by the mere stroke of a pen or the
click of a computer key? Why should anyone collect a rental fee on
that?
1. The National Debt, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, pp. 2, 11.
2. Two Faces of Debt, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, p. 33.
190
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
When banks place credits into your checking account, they are
merely pretending to lend you money. In reality, they have nothing
to lend. Even the money that non-indebted depositors have placed
with them was originally created out of nothing in response to
someone else's loan. So what entitles the banks to collect rent on
nothing? It is immaterial that men everywhere are forced by law to
accept these nothing certificates in exchange for real goods and
services. We are talking here, not about what is legal, but what is
moral. As Thomas Jefferson observed at the time of his protracted
battle against central banking in the United States, "No one has a
natural right to the trade of money lender, but he who has money to
lend."l
THIRD REASON TO ABOLISH THE SYSTEM
Centuries ago, usury was defined as any interest charged for a
loan. Modern usage has redefined it as excessive interest. Certainly,
any amount of interest charged for a pretended loan is excessive. The
dictionary, therefore, needs a new definition. Usury: The charging of
any interest on a loan of fiat money.
Let us, therefore, look at debt and interest in this light. Thomas
Edison summed up the immorality of the system when he said:
People who will not tum a shovel full of dirt on the project nor
contribute a pound of materials will collect more money ... than will the
people who will supply all the materials and do all the work.
2
Is that an exaggeration? Let us consider the purchase of a
$100,000 home in which $30,000 represents the cost of the land,
architect's fee, sales commissions, building permits, and that sort of
thing and $70,000 is the cost of labor and building materials. If the
home buyer puts up $30,000 as a down payment, then $70,000 must
be borrowed. If the loan is issued at 11% over a 3O-year period, the
amount of interest paid will be $167,806. That means the amount
paid to those who loan the money is about 2 Y2 times greater than
1. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Library Edition (Washington: Jefferson Memo-
rial Association, 1903), Vol XIII, p. 277-78.
2. As quoted by Brian L. Bex, The Hidden Hand (Spencer, Indiana: Owen Litho,
1975), p. 161. Unfortunately, Edison did not understand the whole problem. He was
correctly opposed to paying interest to banks for their fiat money, but he was not
opposed to government fiat money. It was only the interest to which he objected. He
did not see the larger picture of how fiat money, even when issued solely by the
government and without interest, has always been destructive of the economy
through the creation of inflation, booms, and busts.
THE MANDRAKE MECHANISM 191
paid to those who provide all the labor and all the materials. It is
trUe that this figure represents the time-value of that money over
thirty years and easily could be justified on the basis that a lender
deserves to be compensated for surrendering the use of his capital
for half a lifetime. But that assumes the lender actually had some-
thing to surrender, that he had earned the capital, saved it, and then
loaned it for construction of someone else's house. What are we to
think, however, about a lender who did nothing to earn the money,
had not saved it, and, in fact, simply created it out of thin air? What
is the time-value of nothing?
As we have already shown, every dollar that exists today, either
in the form of currency, checkbook money, or even credit card
money-in other words, our entire money supply-exists only
because it was borrowed by someone; perhaps not you, but someone.
That means all the American dollars in the entire world are earning
daily and compounded interest for the banks which created them. A
portion of every business venture, every investment, every profit,
every transaction which involves money-and that even includes
losses and the payment of taxes-a portion of all that is earmarked as
payment to a bank. And what did the banks do to earn this perpetu-
ally flowing river of wealth? Did they lend out their own capital
obtained through the investment of stockholders? Did they lend out
the hard-earned savings of their depositors? No, neither of these
were their major source of income. They simply waved the magic
wand called fiat money.
The flow of such unearned wealth under the guise of interest
can only be viewed as usury of the highest magnitude. Even if there
were no other reasons to abolish the Fed, the fact that it is the supreme
instrument of usury would be more than sufficient by itself.
WHO CREATES THE MONEY TO PAY THE INTEREST?
One of the most perplexing questions associated with this proc-
ess is "Where does the money come from to pay the interest?" If you
borrow $10,000 from a bank at 9%, you owe $10,900. But the bank
only manufactures $10,000 for the loan. It would seem, therefore,
that there is no way that you-and all others with similar loans-
can possibly payoff your indebtedness. The amount of money put
into circulation just isn't enough to cover the total debt, including
interest. This has led some to the conclusion that it is necessary for
you to borrow the $900 for the interest, and that, in turn, leads to still
192
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
more interest. The assumption is that, the more we borrow, the more
we have to borrow, and that debt based on fiat money is a never-
ending spiral leading inexorably to more and more debt.
This is a partial truth. It is true that there is not enough money
created to include the interest, but it is a fallacy that the only way to
pay it back is to borrow still more. The assumption fails to take into
account the exchange value of labor. Let us assume that you pay
back your $10,000 loan at the rate of approximately $900 per month
and that about $80 of that represents interest. You realize you are
hard pressed to make your payments so you decide to take on a
part-time job. The bank, on the other hand, is now making $80 profit
each month on your loan. Since this amount is classified as "inter-
est," it is not extinguished as is the larger portion which is a return
of the loan itself. So this remains as spendable money in the account
of the bank. The decision then is made to have the bank's floors
waxed once a week. You respond to the ad in the paper and are
hired at $80 per month to do the job. The result is that you earn the
money to pay the interest on your loan, and-this is the point-the
money you receive is the same money which you previously had
paid. As long as you perform labor for the bank each month, the
same dollars go into the bank as interest, then out the revolving
door as your wages, and then back into the bank as loan repayment.
It is not necessary that you work directly for the bank. No matter
where you earn the money, its origin was a bank and its ultimate
destination is a bank. The loop through which it travels can be large
or small, but the fact remains all interest is paid eventually by
human effort. And the significance of that fact is even more startling
than the assumption that not enough money is created to pay back
the interest. It is that the total of this human effort ultimately is for
the benefit of those who create fiat money. It is a form of modern
serfdom in which the great mass of society works as indentured
servants to a ruling class of financial nobility.
UNDERSTANDING THE ILLUSION
That's really all one needs to know about the operation of the
banking cartel under the protection of the Federal Reserve. But it
would be a shame to stop here without taking a look at the actual
cogs, mirrors, and pulleys that make the magical mechanism work.
It is a truly fascinating engine of mystery and deception. Let us,
therefore, turn our attention to the actual process by which the
THE MANDRAKE MECHANISM 193
magicians create the illusion of modern money. First we shall stand
back for a general view to see the overall action. Then we shall move
in closer and examine each component in detail.
THE MANDRAKE MECHANISM: AN OVERVIEW
[
DEBT
The entire function of this machine is to convert debt
into money. It's just that simple. First, the Fed takes all
the government bonds which the public does not buy
and writes a check to Congress in exchange for them. (It
acquires other debt obligations as well, but government
bonds comprise most of its inventory.) There is no
money to back up this check. These fiat dollars are cre-
ated on the spot for that purpose. By calling those bonds
"reserves," the Fed then uses them as the base for creat-
ing 9 additional dollars for every dollar created for the
bonds themselves. The money created for the bonds is
spent by the government, whereas the money created on
top of those bonds is the source of all the bank loans
made to the nation's businesses and individuals. The
result of this process is the same as creating money on a
printing press, but the illusion is based on an accounting
trick rather than a printing trick. The bottom line is that
Congress and the banking cartel have entered into a
partnership in which the cartel has the privilege of
collecting interest on money w h i ~ h it creates out of noth-
ing, a perpetual override on every American dollar that
exists in the world. Congress, on the other hand, has
access to unlimited funding without having to tell the
voters their taxes are being raised through the process of
inflation. If you understand this paragraph, you under-
stand the Federal Reserve System.
MONEY
Now for a more detailed view. There are three general ways in
which the Federal Reserve creates fiat money out of debt. One is by
making loans to the member banks through what is called the
Discount Window. The second is by purchasing Treasury bonds and
194 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
other certificates of debt through what is called the Open Market
Committee. The third is by changing the so-called reserve ratiu that
member banks are required to hold. Each method is merely a differ-
ent path to the same objective: taking in IOUs and converting them
into spendable money.
THE DISCOUNT WINDOW
The Discount Window is merely bankers' language for the loan
window. When banks run short of money, the Federal Reserve
stands ready as the "bankers' bank" to lend it. There are many rea-
sons for them to need loans. Since they hold "reserves" of only
about one or two per cent of their deposits in vault cash and eight or
nine per cent in securities, their operating margin is extremely thin.
It is common for them to experience temporary negative balances
caused by unusual customer demand for cash or unusually large
clusters of checks all clearing through other banks at the same time.
Sometimes they make bad loans and, when these former "assets"
are removed from their books, their "reserves" are also decreased
and may, in fact, become negative. Finally, there is the profit motive.
When banks borrow from the Federal Reserve at one interest rate
and lend it out at a higher rate, there is an obvious advantage. But
that is merely the beginning. When a bank borrows a dollar from the
Fed, it becomes a one-dollar reserve. Since the banks are required to
keep reserves of only about ten per cent, they actually can loan up to
nine dollars for each dollar borrowed.
1
Let's take a look at the math. Assume the bank receives $1 mil-
lion from the Fed at a rate of 8%. The total annual cost, therefore, is
$80,000 (.08 X $1,000,000). The bank treats the loan as a cash deposit,
which means it becomes the basis for manufacturing an additional
$9 million to be lent to its customers. If we assume that it lends that
money at 11% interest, its gross return would be $990,000 (.11 X
$9,000,000). Subtract from this the bank's cost of $80,000 plus an
appropriate share of its overhead, and we have a net return of about
$900,000. In other words, the bank borrows a million and can almost
1. This 10% figure (ten-to-one ratio) is based on averages. The Federal Reserve
requires a minimum reserve of 10% on deposits over $46.8 million but only 3% on
deposits up to that amount. Deposits in Eurodollars and nonpersonal time deposits
require no reserves at all. Reserves consist of vault cash and deposits at the Federal
Reserve. See Regulation D; Reserve Requirements of Depository Institutions, Federal
Reserve document 12 CFR 204; as amended effective December 22, 1992, p. 23.
THE MANDRAKE MECHANISM
195
double it in one year.l That's leverage! But don't forget the source of
that leverage: the manufacture of another $9 million which is added
to the nation's money supply.
THE OPEN MARKET OPERATION
The most important method used by the Federal Reserve for the
creation of fiat money is the purchase and sale of securities on the
open market. But, before jumping into this, a word of warning.
Don't expect what follows to make any sense. Just be prepared to
know that this is how they do it.
The trick lies in the use of words and phrases which have tech-
meanings quite different from what they imply to the average
So keep your eye on the words. They are not meant to
explam but to deceive. In spite of first appearances, the process is
not complicated. It is just absurd.
THE MANDRAKE MECHANISM: A DETAILED VIEW
Start with ...
GOVERNMENT DEBT
The federal government adds ink to a piece of paper,
creates impressive designs around the edges, and calls it
a bond or Treasury note. It is merely a promise to pay a
specified sum at a specified interest on a specified date.
As we shall see in the following steps, this debt eventu-
ally becomes the foundation for almost the entire
. , 2
nation s money supply. In reality, the government has
created cash, but it doesn't yet look like cash. To convert
these IOUs into paper bills and checkbook money is the
function of The Federal Reserve System. To bring about
that transformation, the bond is given to the Fed where it
is then classified as a ...
(Continued on next page)
banks must cover these loans ?ends or other interest-bearing assets
hich It p<?Ssesses, but that does not dImInIsh the money-multiplier effect of the
new depOSIt.
2. obligations from the private sector and from other governments also are
USed In the same way, but government bonds are the primary instruments.
196
1
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
(Continued from previous page)
SECURITIES ASSET
An instrument of government debt is considered an
asset because it is assumed the government will keep its
promise to pay. This is based upon its ability to obtain
whatever money it needs through taxation. Thus, the
strength of this asset is the power to take back that which
it gives. So the Federal Reserve now has an "asset"
which can be used to offset a liability. It then creates this
liability by adding ink to yet another piece of paper and
exchanging that with the government in return for the
asset. That second piece of paper is a ...
FEDERAL RESERVE CHECK
There is no money in any account to cover this check.
Anyone else doing that would be sent to prison. It is
legal for the Fed, however, because Congress wants t:lle
money, and this is the easiest way to get it. (To raIse
taxes would be political suicide; to depend on the public
to buy all the bonds would not be realistic, especially if
interest rates are set artificially low; and to print very
large quantities of currency would be obvious and con-
troversial.) This way, the process is mysteriously
wrapped up in the banking system. The end result, how-
ever, is the same as turning on government printing
presses and simply manufacturing fiat money (money
created by the order of government with nothing of tan-
gible value backing it) to pay government expenses. Yet,
in accounting terms, the books are said to be "balanced"
because the liability of the money is offset by the "asset"
of the IOU. The Federal Reserve check received by the
government then is endorsed and sent back to one of the
Federal Reserve banks where it now becomes a ...
[
I
THE MANDRAKE MECHANISM 197
(Continued from previous page)
GOVERNMENT DEPOSIT
Once the Federal Reserve check has been deposited into
the government's account, it is used to pay government
expenses and, thus, is transformed into many ...
GOVERNMENT CHECKS
These checks become the means by which the first wave
of fiat money floods into the economy. Recipients now
deposit them into their own bank accounts where they
become ...
COMMERCIAL BANK DEPOSITS
Commercial bank deposits immediately take on a split
personality. On the one hand, they are liabilities to the
bank because they are owed back to the depositors. But,
as long as they remain in the bank, they also are consid-
ered as assets because they are on hand. Once again, the
books are balanced: the assets offset the liabilities. But
the process does not stop there. Through the magic of
fractional-reserve banking, the deposits are made to
serve an additional and more lucrative purpose. To
accomplish this, the on-hand deposits now become
reclassified in the books and called ...
BANK RESERVES
Reserves for what? Are these for paying off depositors
should they want to close out their accounts? No. That's
the lowly function they served when they were classified
as mere assets. Now that they have been given the name
of "reserves," they become the magic wand to material-
ize even larger amounts of fiat money. This is where the
real action is: at the level of the commercial banks. Here's
how it works. The banks are permitted by the Fed to
hold as little as 10% of their deposits in "reserve." That
means, if they receive deposits of $1 million from the
first wave of fiat money created by the Fed, they have
198
1
I
I
I
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
$900,000 more than they are required to keep on hand
($1 million less 10% reserve). In bankers' language, that
$900,000 is called ...
EXCESS RESERVES
1
The word "excess" is a tipoff that these so-called
reserves have a special destiny. Now that they have been
transmuted into an excess, they are considered as avail-
able for lending. And so in due course these excess
reserves are converted into ...
BANK LOANS
1
But wait a minute. How can this money be loaned out
when it is owned by the original depositors who are still
free to write checks and spend it any time they wish?
Isn't that a double claim against the same money? The
answer is that, when the new loans are made, they are
not made with the same money at all. They are made
with brand new money created out of thin air for that
purpose. The nation's money supply simply increases by
ninety per cent of the bank's deposits. Furthermore, this
new money is far more interesting to the banks than the
old. The old money, which they received from deposi-
tors, requires them to payout interest or perform serv-
ices for the privilege of using it. But, with the new
money, the banks collect interest, instead, which is not
too bad considering it cost them nothing to make. Nor is
that the end of the process. When this second wave of fiat
money moves into the economy, it comes right back into
the banking system, just as the first wave did, in the form
of ...
MORE COMMERCIAL BANK DEPOSITS J
The process now repeats but with slightly smaller num-
bers each time around. What was a "loan" on Friday
comes back into the bank as a "deposit" on Monday. The
deposit then is reclassified as a "reserve" and ninety per
cent of that becomes an "excess" reserve which, once
again, is available for a new "loan." Thus, the $1 million
THE MANDRAKE MECHANISM 199
of first wave fiat money gives birth to $900,000 in the
second wave, and that gives birth to $810,000 in the third
wave ($900,000 less 10% reserve). It takes about twenty-
eight times through the revolving door of deposits
becoming loans becoming deposits becoming more
loans until the process plays itself out to the maximum
effect, which is ...
BANK FIAT MONEY = UP TO 9 TIMES GOVERNMENT
The amount of fiat money created by the banking cartel
is approximately nine times the amount of the original
government debt which made the entire process possi-
ble.
1
When the original debt itself is added to that figure,
we finally have ...
TOTAL FIAT MONEY = UP TO 10 TIMES GOVERNMENT
The total amount of fiat money created by the Federal
Reserve and the commercial banks together is approxi-
mately ten times the amount of the underlying govern-
ment debt. To the degree that this newly created money
floods into the economy in excess of goods and services,
it causes the purchasing power of all money, both old
and new, to decline. Prices go up because the relative
value of the money has gone down. The result is the
same as if that purchasing power had been taken from us
in taxes. The reality of this process, therefore, is that it is
a ...
HIDDEN TAX = UP TO 10 TIMES THE NATIONAL DEBT
Without realizing it, Americans have paid over the
years, in addition to their federal income taxes and excise
taxes, a completely hidden tax equal to many times the
national debt! And that still is not the end of the process.
Since our money supply is purely an arbitrary entity
with nothing behind it except debt, its quantity can go
1. That is a theoretical maximum. In actual practice, the banks can seldom loan out
all of the money they are allowed to create, and the numbers fall short of the
lllaximum.
200 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
down as well as up. When people are going deeper into
debt, the nation's money supply expands and prices go
up, but when they payoff their debts and refuse to
renew, the money supply contracts and prices tumble.
That is exactly what happens in times of economic or
political uncertainty. This alternation between periods of
expansion and contraction of the money supply is the
underlying cause of ...
BOOMS, BUSTS, AND DEPRESSIONS
]
Who benefits from all of this? Certainly not the average
citizen. The only beneficiaries are the political scientists
in Congress who enjoy the effect of unlimited revenue to
perpetuate their power, and the monetary scientists
within the banking cartel called the Federal Reserve
System who have been able to harness the American
people, without their knowing it, to the yoke of modern
feudalism.
RESERVE RATIOS
The previous figures are based on a "reserve" ratio of 10% (a
money-expansion ratio of 1O-to-l). It must be remembered, how-
ever, that this is purely arbitrary. Since the money is fiat with no
precious-metal backing, there is no real limitation except what the
politicians and money managers decide is expedient for the
moment. Altering this ratio is the third way in which the Federal
Reserve can influence the nation's supply of money. The numbers,
therefore, must be considered as transient. At any time there is a
"need" for more money, the ratio can be increased to 20-to-l or 50-
to-I, or the pretense of a reserve can be dropped altogether. There is
virtually no limit to the amount of fiat money that can be manufac-
tured under the present system.
NATIONAL DEBT NOT NECESSARY FOR INFLATION
Because the Federal Reserve can be counted on to "monetize"
(convert into money) virtually any amount of government debt, and
because this process of expanding the money supply is the primary
cause of inflation, it is tempting to jump to the conclusion that fed-
eral debt and inflation are but two aspects of the same phenomenon.
This, however, is not necessarily true. It is quite possible to have
either one without the other.
THE MANDRAKE MECHANISM 201
The banking cartel holds a monopoly in the manufacture of
money. Consequently, money is created only when IOUs are
"monetized" by the Fed or by commercial banks. When private
individuals, corporations, or institutions purchase government
bonds, they must use money they have previously earned and
saved. In other words, no new money is created, because they are
using funds that are already in existence. Therefore, the sale of gov-
ernment bonds to the banking system is inflationary, but when sold
to the private sector, it is not. That is the primary reason the United'
States avoided massive inflation during the 1980s when the federal
government was going into debt at a greater rate than ever before in
its history. By keeping interest rates high, these bonds became
attractive to private investors, including those in other countries.
1
Very little new money was created, because most of the bonds were
purchased with American dollars already in existence. This, of
course, was a temporary fix at best. Today, those bonds are continu-
ally maturing and are being replaced by still more bonds to include
the original debt plus accumulated interest. Eventually this process
must come to an end and, when it does, the Fed will have no choice
but to literally buy back all the debt of the '80s-that is, to replace all
of the formerly invested private money with newly manufactured
fiat money-plus a great deal more to cover the interest. Then we
will understand the meaning of inflation.
On the other side of the coin, the Federal Reserve has the option
of manufacturing money even if the federal government does not go
deeper into debt. For example, the huge expansion of the money
supply leading up to the stock market crash in 1929 occurred at a
time when the national debt was being paid off. In every year from
1920 through 1930, federal revenue exceeded expenses, and there
were relatively few government bonds being offered. The massive
inflation of the money supply was made possible by converting
commercial bank loans into "reserves" at the Fed's discount win-
dow and by the Fed's purchase of banker's which are
commercial contracts for the purchase of goods.
Now the options are even greater. The Monetary Control Act of
1980 has made it possible for the Creature to monetize virtually any
1. Only about 11 to 15 per cent of the federal debt at that time was held by the
Federal Reserve System. .
2. See chapter twenty-three.
202
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
debt instrument, including IOUs from foreign governments. The
apparent purpose of this legislation is to make it bail out
those governments which are having trouble paYIng the I.nterest
their loans from American banks. When the Fed creates fIat Amen-
can dollars to give foreign governments in exchange for worth-
less bonds, the money path is slightly longer and more twIsted, but
the effect is similar to the purchase of U.S. Treasury Bonds. The
newly created dollars go to the foreign governments, .then to the
American banks where they become cash reserves. Fmally, they
flow back into the U.S. money pool (multiplied by nine) in the form
of additional loans. The cost of the operation once again is born by
the American citizen through the loss of purchasing power. Expan-
sion of the money supply, therefore, and the inflation that follows,
no longer even require federal deficits. As long as someone is willing
to borrow American dollars, the cartel will have the option of creat-
ing those dollars specifically to purchase their bonds and, by so do-
ing, continue to expand the money supply.
We must not forget, however, that one of the reasons the Fed
was created in the first place was to make it possible for Congress to
spend without the public knowing it was being taxed. Americans
have shown an amazing indifference to this fleecing, explained
undoubtedly by their lack of understanding of how the Mandrake
Mechanism works. Consequently, at the present time, this cozy con-
tract between the banking cartel and the politicians is in little danger
of being altered. As a practical matter, therefore, even though the
Fed may also create fiat money in exchange for commercial de?t
and for bonds of foreign governments, its major concern likely wIll
be to continue supplying Congress.
The implications of this fact are mind boggling. Since our money
supply, at present at least, is tied to the national debt, to pay off
debt would cause money to disappear. Even to seriously reduce It
would cripple the economy.1 Therefore, as long as the Federal
Reserve exists, America will be, must be, in debt.
The purchase of bonds from other governments is accelerating
in the present political climate of internationalism. Our own money
1. With the Fed holding only 7% of the national debt, the effect would still be
devastating. Since the money supply is pyramided ten times on top of the underly-
ing government bonds, each $1 eliminated from the federal debt would cause the
money supply to shrink by (1.00 X .07 X 10 = .70).
mE MANDRAKE MECHANISM 203
supply increasingly is based upon their debt as well as ours, and
they, too, will not be allowed to pay it off even if they are able.
TAXES NOT EVEN NECESSARY
It is a sobering thought that the federal government now could
operate-even at its current level of spending-without levying any
taxes whatsoever. All it has to do is create the required money
through the Federal Reserve System by monetizing its own bonds.
In fact, most of the money it now spends is obtained that way.
If the idea of eliminating the IRS sounds like good news, remem-
ber that the inflation that results from monetizing the debt is just as
much a tax as any other; but, because it is hidden and so few Ameri-
cans understand how it works, it is more politically popular than a
tax that is out in the open.
Inflation can be likened to a game of Monopoly in which the
game's banker has no limit to the amount of money he can distrib-
ute. With each throw of the dice he reaches under the table and
brings up another stack of those paper tokens which all the players
must use as money. If the banker is also one of the players-and in
our real world that is exactly the case-obviously he is going to end
up owning all the property. But, in the meantime, the increasing
flood of money swirls out from the banker and engulfs the players.
As the quantity of money becomes greater, the relative worth of
each token becomes less, and the prices bid for the properties goes
up. The game is called monopoly for a reason. In the end, one person
holds all the property and everyone else is bankrupt. But what does
it matter. It's only a game.
Unfortunately, it is not a game in the real world. It is our liveli-
hood, our food, our shelter. It does make a difference if there is only
one winner, and it makes a big difference if that winner obtained his
monopoly simply by manufacturing everyone's money.
FOURTH REASON TO ABOLISH THE SYSTEM
Make no mistake about it, inflation is a tax. Furthermore, it is the
most unfair tax of them all because it falls most heavily upon those
Who are thrifty, those on fixed incomes, and those in the middle and
lOWer income brackets. The important point here is that this hidden
tax would be impossible without fiat money. Fiat money in America
is created solely as a result of the Federal Reserve System. There-
fore, it is totally accurate to say that the Federal Reserve System
204 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
generates our most unfair tax. Both the tax and the System that makes
it possible should be abolished.
The political scientists who authorize this process of monetizing
the national debt, and the monetary scientists who carry it out,
know that it is not true debt. It is not true debt, because no one in
Washington really expects to repay it-ever. The dual purpose of
this magic show is simply to create free spending money for the
politicians, without the inconvenience of raising direct taxes, and
also to generate a perpetual river of gold flowing into the banking
cartel. The partnership is merely looking out for itself.
Why, then, does the federal government bother with taxes at all?
Why not just operate on monetized debt? The answer is twofold.
First, if it did, people would begin to wonder about the source of the
money, and that might cause them to wake up to the reality that
inflation is a tax. Thus, open taxes at some level serve to perpetuate
public ignorance which is essential to the success of the scheme. The
second reason is that taxes, particularly progressive taxes, are weap-
ons by which elitist social planners can wage war on the middle
class.
A TOOL FOR SOCIAL PLANNING
The January 1946 issue of American Affairs carried an article writ-
ten by Beardsley Ruml who, at that time, was Chairman of the Fed-
eral Reserve Bank of New York. Ruml had devised the system of
automatic withholding during World War il, so he was well quali-
fied to speak on the nature and purpose of the federal income tax.
His theme was spelled out in the title of his article: "Taxes for Reve-
nue Are Obsolete."
In an introduction to the article, the magazine's editor summa-
rized Ruml's views as follows:
His thesis is that, given control of a central banking system and an
inconvertible currency [a currency not backed by gold], a sovereign
national government is finally free of money worries and needs nO
longer levy taxes for the purpose of providing itself with revenue. All
taxation, therefore, should be regarded from the point of view of social
d
· 1
an economIC consequences.
Ruml explained that, since the Federal Reserve now can create
out of nothing all the money the government could ever want, there
1. "Taxes for Revenue Are Obsolete," by Beardsley RumI, American Affairs,
January, 1946, p. 35.
THE MANDRAKE MECHANISM
205
remain only two reasons to have taxes at all. The first of these is to
combat a rise in the general level of prices. His argument was that,
when people have money in their pockets, they will spend it for
goods and services, and this will bid up the prices. The solution, he
says, is to take the money away from them through taxation and let
the government spend it instead. This, too, will bid up prices, but
Ruml chose not to go into that. He explained his theory this way:
The dollars the government spends become purchasing power in
the hands of the people who have received them. The dollars the
government takes by taxes cannot be spent by the people, and
dollars can no longer be used to acquire the things
whIch are available for sale. Taxation is, therefore, an instrument of the
first importance in the administration of any fiscal and monetary
1
· 1
po ICY.
REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH
The other purpose of taxation, according to Ruml, is to redistrib-
ute the wealth from one class of citizens to another. This must
always be done in the name of social justice or equality, but the real
objective is to override the free market and bring society under the
control of the master planners. Rum! said:
The second principle purpose of federal taxes is to attain more
equality of wealth and of income than would result from economic
forces working alone. The taxes which are effective for this purpose
are the individual income tax, the progressive estate tax,
the gIft tax. What these taxes should be depends on public policy
With respect to the distribution of wealth and of income. These taxes
should be defended and attacked in terms of their effect on the
character of American life, not as revenue measures.
2
As we have seen, Senator Nelson Aldrich was one of the creators
of the Federal Reserve System. That is not surprising in light of the
cartel nature of the System and the financial interests which he rep-
Aldrich also was one of the prime sponsors of the federal
Income tax. The two creations work together as a far more delicate
mechanism for control over the economic and social life of society
than either one alone.
In more recent years, there has been hopeful evidence that the
master planners were about to abandon Ruml's blueprint. We have
-
1. Rumt p. 36.
2. Ibid., p. 36.
206 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
heard a great deal both in Congress and at the Federal Reserve
about the necessity of reducing expenses so as to diminish the
growth of federal debt and inflation. But it has been lip service only.
The great bulk of federal funding continues to be created by the
Mandrake Mechanism, the cost of government continues to outpace
tax revenues, and the Ruml formula reigns supreme.
EXPANSION LEADS TO CONTRACTION
While it is true that the Mandrake Mechanism is responsible for
the expansion of the money supply, the process also works in
reverse. Just as money is created when the Federal Reserve purchases
bonds or other debt instruments, it is extinguished by the sale of
those same items. When they are sold, the money is given back to
the System and disappears into the inkwell or computer chip from
which it came. Then, the same secondary ripple effect that created
money through the commercial banking system causes it to be with-
drawn from the economy. Furthermore, even if the Federal Reserve
does not deliberately contract the money supply, the same result
can and often does occur when the public decides to resist the avail-
ability of credit and reduce its debt. A man can only be tempted to
borrow, he cannot be forced to do so.
There are many psychological factors involved in a decision to
go into debt that can offset the easy availability of money and a low
interest rate: A downturn in the economy, the threat of civil disor-
der, the fear of pending war, an uncertain political climate, to name
just a few. Even though the Fed may try to pump money into the
economy by making it abundantly available, the public can thwart
that move simply by saying no, thank you. When this happens, the
old debts that are being paid off are not replaced by new ones to
take their place, and the entire amount of consumer and business
debt will shrink. That means the money supply also will shrink,
because, in modern America, debt is money. And it is this very
expansion and contraction of the monetary pool-a phenomenon
that could not occur if based upon the laws of supply and
demand-that is at the very core of practically every boom and bust
that has plagued mankind throughout history.
In conclusion, it can be said that modern money is a grand illu-
sion conjured by the magicians of finance and politics. We are living
in an age of fiat money, and it is sobering to realize that every pre-
vious nation in history that has adopted such money eventually waS
THE MANDRAKE MECHANISM
207
economically destroyed by it. Furthermore, there is nothing in our
present monetary structure that offers any assurance that we may
be exempted from that morbid roll call.
Correction. There is one. It is still within the power of Congress
to abolish the Federal Reserve System.
SUMMARY
The American dollar has no intrinsic value. It is a classic exam-
ple fiat money no limit to the quantity that can be produced.
Its pnmary value lIes In the willingness of people to accept it and, to
that end, legal tender laws require them to do so. It is true that our
is created out of nothing, but it is more accurate to say that it
IS based upon debt. In one sense, therefore, our money is created out
of less than nothing. The entire money supply would vanish into
bank vaults and computer chips if all debts were repaid. Under the
present System, therefore, our leaders cannot allow a serious reduc-
tion in either the or consumer debt. Charging interest on
pretended loans IS usury, and that has become institutionalized
the Federal Reserve The Mandrake Mechanism by
the c?nverts debt Into money may seem complicated at
but It IS sImple if one remembers that the process is not
mtended to .to confuse and deceive. The end product
?f the Mecharusm IS artIfICIal expansion of the money supply, which
IS the root cause of the hidden tax called inflation. This expansion
then leads to contraction and, together, they produce the destructive
boom-bust. cycle that has plagued mankind throughout history
wherever flat money has existed.
Cecil Rhodes made one of the
world's greatest fortunes of the 18th
century. Financed by Nathan
Rothschild and the Bank of England,
he established a monopoly over the
diamond output of South Africa and
most of the gold as well. He formed
a secret society which included
many of the top leaders of British
government. Their elitist goal was
nothing less than world domination
and the establishment of a modern
feudalist society controlled by
themselves through the world's
central banks. In America, the
Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
was an outgrowth of that group.
August Belmont came to New York
in 1837 as the financial agent of the
Rothschilds. He funneled vast
amounts of capital into American
investments, often without anyone
knowing whose money he was
spending. The purpose of
concealment was to blunt the t
growing anti-Rothschild resentrn
en
that was then prevalent in Europe
as well as America. When his n
affiliation became commonly I
his usefulness came to an end an
he was replaced by J.P. Morgan.
Library of Congress
J.P. Morgan, Sr. (left) was brought into banking by his father, Junius Morgan, in
England. The Morgans were friendly competitors with the Rothschilds and became
SOcially close to them. Morgan's London-based firm was saved from financial ruin in
i 857 by the Bank of England over which the Rothschilds held great influence.
t hereafter, Morgan appears to have served as a Rothschild financial agent and went
o great length to appear totally American.
D. Roc.kefeller (right) made his initial fortune in oil but soon gravitated into
finance. J:iis entry into the field was not welcomed by Morgan, and they
fierce competitors. Eventually, they decided to minimize their competition by
into joint ventures. In the end, they worked together to create a national
anklng cartel called the Federal Reserve System.
Above is the clubhouse for the
private resort on Jekyll Island in
Georgia where the Federal Reserve
System was conceived in great
secrecy in 1910. It is shown here
shortly after completion.
Jacob Schiff (right) was head of the
New York investment firm, Kuhn,
Loeb & Co. He was one of the
principal backers of the Bolshevik
revolution and personally financed
Trotsky's trip from New York to
Russia. He was a major contributor to
Woodrow Wilson's presidential
campaign and an advocate for
passage of the Federal Reserve Act.
"DEE.LIGHTED'··
I: J
~ ,
, ..
. .
t ~ ' O ~ ~ I
~ I
. ~ J
! I
This cartoon by Robert Minor appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in
1911. It shows Karl Marx surrounded by enthusiastic Wall Street financiers:
Morgan partner George Perkins; J.P. Morgan; John Ryan of National City
Bank; John D. Rockefeller; and Andrew Carnegie. Immediately behind
Marx is Teddy Roosevelt, leader of the Progressive Party.
Harry Dexter White (left) and
John Maynard Keynes (right)
were the theoreticians who
guided the 1944 Bretton Woods
Monetary Conference at which
the IMFIWorld Bank was
:reated. White was a member of
the Communist Party. Keynes
was a member of the Fabian
Society. They shared the same
goal of international socialism.
The IMFIWorid Bank has
furthered that goal ever since.
Raymond Robins is shown aSartY
the Chairman of the Progressive P
convention in Chicago in 1912 .. H:
n
later became head of the the
Red Cross Mission in Russia after
Bolshevik revolution. Although he he
represented Wall interests'd
was a
was anti-capltalist In his behe!s.
held great influence over Lenin.
Cq,rroll Quigley was a professor of
history at Georgetown University. His
book, Tragedy and Hope, revealed
that the Council on Foreign Relations
(CFR) is an outgrowth of the secret
society formed by Cecil Rhodes.
He wrote the history of how an
international network of financiers
has created a system of financial
Control able to dominate the political
systems of all countries through their
central banks. He named names and
prOvided meticulous documentation.
His book was suppressed.
Edward Mandell House was the
man who secured Woodrow
Wilson's nomination for
President and who, thereafter,
became the hidden power at the
White House. He negotiated a
secret agreement to draw the
U.S. into World War I at the very
time Wilson was campaigning
on the promise to keep America
out of the war. On behalf of Wall
Street, House lobbied Congress
to pass the Federal Reserve Act.
Winston Churchill was the First Lord ?f the
Admiralty in World War I. As the Lusltania,
entered into an area where a German
U-Boat was known to be operating, he
called off the destroyer escort that had been
assigned to protect her. He that
the destruction of a British ship with U.S.
passengers aboard would inflame American
passions against help create a
political climate for coming Into the war.
Hulton Deutsch
Lord Mersey (right) was put in charge of
an official inquiry into the sinking of the
Lusitania. It was not an investigation but a
coverup. He was instructed by the
Admiralty to place the entire blame on
Captain of the ship. Mersey obeyed
orders but refused payment for his
services and declined to accept further
judicial assignments. In
said the affair "was a damn dirty business.
Section III
THE NEW
ALCHEMY
The ancient alchemists sought in vain to convert
lead into gold. Modern alchemists have
succeeded in that quest. The lead bullets of war
have yielded an endless source of gold for those
magicians who control the Mandrake
Mechanism. The startling fact emerges that,
without the ability to create fiat money, most
modern wars simply would not have occurred.
As long as the Mechanism is allowed to function,
future wars are inevitable. This is the story of how
that came to pass.
Chapter Eleven
THE ROTHSCHILD
FORMULA
The rise of the House of Rothschild in Europe; the
tradition among financiers of profiting from both
sides of armed conflict; the formula by which war
is converted into debt and debt converted back
into war.
So far we have adhered closely to the subject of money and the
history of its manipulation by political and monetary scientists.
Now we are going to take a short detour along a parallel path and
view some of the same historical scenery from a different perspec-
tive. As we progress, it may seem that we have lost our way, and
you may wonder what connection any of this can possibly have
with the Federal Reserve System. Please be assured, however, it has
everything to do with it, and, when we finally return to that topic,
the connection will have become painfully clear.
THE PROFITS OF WAR
The focus of this chapter is on the profits of war and, more
specifically, the tendency of those who reap those profits to
manipulate governments into military conflicts, not for national or
patriotic reasons, but for private gain. The mechanism by which
this was accomplished in the past was more complex than simply
lending money to warring governments and then collecting inter-
est, although that was part of it. The real payoff has always been in
the form of political favoritism in the market place. Writing in the
year 1937, French historian Richard Lewinsohn explainS:
Although often called bankers, those who financed wars in the
pre-capitalist period ... were not bankers in the modem sense of the
word. Unlike modem bankers who operate with money deposited
with them by their clients [or, in more recent times, created out of
nothing by a central bank-E.G.}, they generally worked with the
fortune which they themselves had amassed or inherited, and which
218 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
they lent at a high rate of interest. Thus those who risked the financing
of a war were for the most part already very rich, and this was the case
down to the seventeenth century.
When they agreed to finance a war, these rich lenders did not,
however, always attach great importance to the rate of interest. In this
respect they often showed the greatest compliance to their august
clients. But in return they secured for themselves privileges which
could be turned into industrial or commercial profit, such as mining
concessions, monopolies of sale or importation, etc. Sometimes even
they were given the right to appropriate certain taxes as a guarantee of
their loans. So though the loan itself carried a very real risk and often
did not bring in much interest, the indirect profits were very
considerable, and the lenders' leniency well rewarded.
1
THE ROTHSCIDLD DYNASTY
No discussion of banking as a mechanism for financing wars
would be complete without turning eventually to the name
Rothschild. It was Mayer Amschel Rothschild who is quoted as
saying: "Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not
who writes the laws.,,2 Biographer Frederic Morton concluded that
the Rothschild dynasty had: " ... conquered the world more thor-
oughly, more cunningly, and much more lastingly than all the
Ceasars before or all the Hitlers after them.,,3 The dynasty was
begun in Frankfurt, Germany, in the middle of the eighteenth
century by Mayer Amschel Bauer, the son of a goldsmith. Mayer
became a clerk in the Oppenheimer Bank in Hanover and was
eventually promoted to junior partner. After his father's death, he
returned to his home in Frankfurt to continue the family business.
Over the door hung a red shield with an eagle as a sign to identify
the establishment. The German words for red shield are roth schild,
so he changed his name from Bauer to Rothschild and added five
gold arrows held in the talons of the eagle to represent his five sons.
1. Richard Lewinsohn, The Profits of War through the Ages (New York: E.P. Dutton,
1937), pp. 55-56.
2. Quoted by Senator Robert L. Owen, former Chairman of the Senate Committee
on Banking and Currency and one of the sponsors of the Federal Reserve Act,
National Economy and the Banking System, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government
Printing Office, 1939), p. 99. This quotation could not be verified in a primary
reference work. However, when one considers the life and accomplishments of the
elder Rothschild, there can be little doubt that this sentiment was, in fact, his
outlook and guiding principle.
3. Frederic Morton, The Rothschilds: A Family Portrait (New York: Atheneum, 1962),
p.14.
THE ROTHSCHILD FORMULA 219
The Rothschild fortune began when Mayer adopted the practice
of fractional-reserve banking. As we have seen, he was not alone in
this, but the House of Rothschild greatly surpassed the competi-
tion. That was due to his sharp business acumen and also because
of his five most unusual sons, all of whom became financial power
centers of their own. As they matured and learned the magic of
converting debt into money, they moved beyond the confines of
Frankfurt and established additional operations in the financial
centers, not only of Europe, but of much of the civilized world.
Throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, the brothers
conducted important transactions on behalf of the governments of
England, France, Prussia, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Naples,
Portugal, Brazil, various German states, and other smaller coun-
tries. They were the personal bankers of many of the crowned
heads of Europe. They made large investments, through agents, in
markets as distant as the United States, India, Cuba, and Australia.
They were financiers to Cecil Rhodes, making it possible for him to
establish a monopoly over the diamond fields of South Africa. They
are still connected with the de Beers.
1
Biographer Derek Wilson writes:
Those who lampooned or vilified the Rothschilds for their
"sinister" influence had a considerable amount of justification for their
anger and anxiety. The banking community had always constituted a
"fifth estate" whose members were able, by their control of royal purse
strings, to affect important events. But the house of Rothschild was
immensely more powerful than any financial empire that had ever
preceded it. It commanded vast wealth. It was international. It was
independent. Royal governments were nervous of it because they
could not control it. Popular movements hated it because it was not
answerable to the people. Constitutionalists resented it because its
influence was exercised behind the scenes-secretly.2
Secrecy, of course, is essential for the success of a cabal, and the
Rothschilds perfected the art. By remaining behind the scenes, they
Were able to avoid the brunt of public anger which was directed,
instead, at the political figures which they largely controlled. This is
a technique which has been practiced by financial manipulators
1. Morton, pp. 145,219.
2. Derek Wilson, Rothschild: The Wealth and Power of A Dynasty (New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1988), pp. 79, 98-99.
220 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
ever since, and it is fully utilized by those who operate the Federal
Reserve System today. Wilson continues:
Clandestinity was and remained a feature of Rothschild political
activity. Seldom were they to be seen engaging in open public debate
on important issues. Never did they seek government office. Even
when, in later years, some of them entered parliament, they did not
feature prominently in the assembly chambers of London, Paris or
Berlin. Yet all the while they were helping to shape the major events of
the day: by granting or withholding funds; by providing statesmen
with an official diplomatic service; by influencing appointments to
high office; and by an almost daily intercourse with the great decision
makers.
A FORTUNE IN SMUGGLING
Continual war in Europe created excellent opportunities for
profit from smuggling scarce consumer goods past military block-
ades. Since the Rothschilds often financed both sides in a conflict
and were known to have great political influence, the mere sight of
the red shield on a leather pouch, a carriage, or a ship's flag was
sufficient to insure that the messenger or his cargo could pass
through check points in either direction. This immunity allowed
them to deal in a thriving black market for cotton goods, yarn,
tobacco, coffee, sugar, and indigo; and they moved freely through
the borders of Germany, Scandinavia, Holland, Spain, England,
and France.
2
This government protection was one of those indirect
benefits that generated commercial profits far in excess of the
interest received on the underlying government loans.
It is generally true that, one man's loss is another man's gain.
And even the friendliest of biographers admit that, for more than
two centuries, the House of Rothschild profited handsomely from
wars and economic collapses, the very occasions on which others
sustained the greatest losses.
NAPOLEON VS THE BANKERS
If one picture is worth a thousand words, then one example
surely must be worth a dozen explanations. There is no better
example than the economic war waged by the financiers of
nineteenth-century Europe against Napoleon Bonaparte. It is an
easily forgotten fact of history that Napoleon had restored law and
1. Derek Wilson, p. 99.
2. Morton, pp. 40-41.
THE ROTHSCHILD FORMULA 221
order to a chaotic, post-revolutionary France and had turned his
attention, not to war, but to establishing peace and improving
economic conditions at home. He was particularly anxious to get
his country and his people out of debt and out of the control of
bankers. R. McNair Wilson, in Monarchy or Money Power, says:
It was ordained by him that money should not be exported from
France on any pretext whatever except with the consent of the
Government, and that in no circumstance should loans be employed to
meet current expenditure whether civil or military .... "One has only to
consider," Napoleon remarked, "what loans can lead to in order to
realize their danger. Therefore, I would never have anything to do
with them and have always striven against them." ...
The object was to withhold from finance the power to embarrass
the Government as it had embarrassed the Government of Louis XVI.
When a Government, Bonaparte declared, is dependent for money
upon bankers, they and not the leaders of that Government control the
situation, since "the hand that gives is above the hand that takes." ...
"Money," he declared, "has no motherland; financiers are without
patriotism and without decency: their sole object is gain.',1
One of Napoleon's first blows against the bankers was to
establish an independent Bank of France with himself as president.
But even this bank was not trusted, and government funds were
never placed into it. It was his refusal to borrow, however, that
caused the most concern among the financiers. Actually, to them
this was a mixture of both bad and good news. The bad news was
that they were denied the benefit of royalty payments on fractional
money. The good news was that, without resorting to debt, they
were confident Napoleon could not militarily defend himself. Thus,
he easily could be toppled and replaced by Louis XVI of the old
monarchic dynasty who was receptive to banker influence. Wilson
continues:
They had good hope of compassing his downfall. None believed
that he could finance war on a great scale now that the resource of
paper money had been denied him by the destruction of the Assignaf;2
Where would he obtain the indispensable gold and silver to feed and
equip a great army? Pitt [the Prime Minister of England] counted
already on a coalition of England, Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain,
1. R. McNair Wilson, Monarchy or Money Power (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode,
Ltd., 1933), pp. 68, 72. .
2. The Assignat was pure fiat money which rapidly became totally worthless In
commerce and which all but destroyed the French economy.
222
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
Sweden, and numerous small states. Some 600,000 men would be put
into the field. All the resources of England's wealth-that is to say, of
the world's wealth-would be placed at the disposal of this
overwhelming force. Could the Corsican muster 2oo,000? Could he
arm them? Could he feed them? If the lead bullets did not destroy him,
the gold bullets would soon make an end. He would be forced, like his
neighbors, to come, hat in hand, for loans and, like them, to accept the
banker's terms ....
He could not put his hands on £2,000,000, so empty was the
Treasury and so depleted the nation's stock of metallic monel
London waited with interest to see how the puzzle would be solved.
Napoleon solved the puzzle quite simply by selling off some
real estate. Those crazy Americans gave him £3,000,000 for a vast
swamp called Louisiana.
A PLAN TO DESTROY THE UNITED STATES
Napoleon did not want war, but he knew that Europe's
financial rulers would not settle for peace-unless, of course, they
were forced into it by the defeat of their puppet regimes or unless,
somehow, it would be to their monetary advantage. It was in
pursuit of the latter tactic that he threatened to take direct posses-
sion of Holland, which then was ruled by his brother, King Louis.
Napoleon knew that the Dutch were heavily in debt to the English
bankers. If Holland were to be annexed by France, this debt would
never be repaid. So Napoleon made a proposal to England's
bankers that, if they would convince the English government to
accept peace with France, he would agree to leave Holland alone.
The negotiations were handled by the banker, Pierre-Cesar
Labouchere, who was sent by the Dutch, and the English banker,
Sir Francis Baring who was Labouchere's father-in-law. Although
this was an attractive proposal to the bankers, at least on a
short-term basis, it was still against their nature to forego the
immense profits of war and mercantilism. They revised the pro-
posal, therefore, to include a plan whereby both England and
France would combine forces to destroy the newly independent
United States and bring at least half of it-the industrial half-back
under the domination of England. The incredible plan, conceived
by the French banker, Ouvard, called for military invasion and
conquest followed by division of the spoils. England would receive
1. R. McNair Wilson, pp. 71-72.
THE ROTHSCHILD FORMULA 223
the northern states, united with Canada, while the southern states
would fall to France. Napoleon was to be tempted by offering him
the awesome title of "King of America." McNair Wilson tells us:
Labouchere wrote to Baring on March 21, and enclosed a note for
[British Foreign Secretary] Wellesley dictated by Ouvrard which ran:
"From a conqueror he (Napoleon) is becoming a preserver; the
first result of his marriage with Marie Louise will be that he will make
an offer of peace to England. It is to this nation's (i.e., England's)
interest to make peace, for it has the command of the sea; on the
contrary, it is really in the interest of France to continue war, which
allows her to expand indefinitely and make a fresh fleet, which cannot
be done once peace is established. Why does not the English Cabinet
make a proposal to France to destroy the United States of America,
and by making them again dependent on England, persuade
Napoleon to lend his aid to destroy the life-work of Louis XVI? .. It is
to her (England's) interest to conclude peace and to flatter Napoleon's
vanity by recognizing his work and his imperial title." ...
The Cabinet discussed the proposals and approved them.
Wellesley at once hurried to Baring's house to give him the good
news .... The Dutch would be able to pay and would be compelled to
pay ingold.
Unhappily Napoleon found out what was afoot and took
somewhat strong objections to the plan of a joint attack on the United
States. He arrested Ouvrard, dismissed and exiled Fouche, and
published the whole story, to the grave distress of Wellesley and
B
. 1
armg.
It must not be concluded from this that Napoleon was a
paragon of virtue or a champion of honest money. His objection to
the bankers was that their monetary power was able to threaten the
sovereignty of his own political power. He allowed them a free
hand while they served the purpose of the state. Then, when the
need for military financing subsided, he would condemn them for
making "unholy profits" and simply take it from them in the name
of the people. If the bankers protested, they were sent to prison.
And so the battle lines were drawn. Napoleon had to be
destroyed at all costs. To make this possible, the Bank of England
created vast new amounts of fiat money to "lend" to the govern-
ment so it could finance an overpowering army. A steady stream of
gold flowed out of the country to finance the armies of Russia,
Prussia, and Austria. The economy staggered once again under the
1. R. McNair Wilson, pp. 81-82.
224
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
load of war debt, and the little people paid the bill with hardly a
grumble because they hadn't the slightest knowledge it was being
charged to their account. Wilson concludes the story:
The bankers won. Louis XVIII was restored by British arms and
British diplomacy to the throne of his ancestors. Loans were placed at
his disposal, though Napoleon had left a France which enjoyed a credit
balance.
A year later the man whom every King and every banker in
Europe called "usurper" won back his throne with 800 men and
without the firing of a single shot. On this occasion he had no option
but to raise a loan for the defense of France. The City of London
[banking district] accommodated him with £5,000,000. With this sum
he equipped the army which Wellington defeated at Waterloo.
1
GOLD FOR THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON
One of the most fascinating and revealing episodes to be
recorded by Rothschild biographers concerns the smuggling of a
large shipment of gold to finance the Duke of Wellington who was
attempting to feed and equip an army in Portugal and in the
Pyrenees mountains between Spain and France.
It was not at all certain that Wellington would be able to defeat
Napoleon in the coming battle, and the Duke was hard pressed to
convince bankers and merchants in Portugal and Spain to accept
his written promises-to-pay, even though they were officially
guaranteed by the British government. These notes were deeply
discounted, and Wellington was desperate for gold coin. It was at
this point that Nathan Rothschild offered the services of himself
and his brothers. With an efficient smuggling apparatus already
functioning throughout Europe, he was able to offer Wellington
much better terms while still making a magnificent profit. But, to
accomplish this, the gold had to pass right under Napoleon's nose.
Frederic Morton describes the scene:
There was only one way to route the cash: through the very France
England's army was fighting. Of course, the Rothschild
blockade-running machine already had superb cogs whirring all over
Germany, Scandinavia and England, even in Spain and Southern
France. But a very foxy new wheel was needed in Napoleon's capital
itself. Enter Jacob-henceforth called James-the youngest of Mayer's
sons.
2
1. R. McNair Wilson, p. 83.
2. Morton, p. 46.
THE ROTHSCHILD FORMULA 225
James was only nineteen years old but was well trained by his
father in the art of deception. He arrived in Paris with a dual
mission. First, he was to provide the French authorities with a false
report about the British gold movement, with just enough truth in it
to sound convincing. He presented the government with falsified
letters indicating that the English were desperate to haIt the flow of
their gold into France. The ploy paid off when the French authori-
ties then actually encouraged the financial community to accept
British gold and to convert it into commercially sound banknotes.
Second, James was to serve as a vital link in a financial chain
stretching between London and the Pyrenees. He was to coordinate
the receipt of the gold into France, the conversion of that gold into
Spanish banknotes, and the movement of those notes out of the
country on their way to Wellington. All of this he did with amazing
dexterity, especially considering his youth. Morton concludes:
In the space of a few hundred hours Mayer's youngest had not
only gotten the English gold rolling through France, but conjured a
fiscal mirage that took in Napoleon himself. A teen-age Rothschild
tricked the imperial government into sanctioning the very process that
helped to ruin it.. ..
The family machine began to hum. Nathan sent big shipments of
British guineas, Portuguese gold ounces, French napoleons d'or (often
freshly minted in London) across the Channel. From the coast James
saw them to Paris and secretly transmuted the metal into bills on
certain Spanish bankers. South of the capital, Kalmann [another of
Mayer's sons] materialized, took over the bills, blurred into a
thousand shadowed canyons along the Pyrenees-and reappeared,
with Wellington's receipts in hand. Salomon [another son] was
everywhere, trouble-shooting, making sure the transit points were
diffuse and obscure enough not to disturb either the French delusion
or the British guinea rate. Amschel stayed in Frankfurt and helped
father Mayer to staff headquarters.
The French did catch a few whiffs of the truth. Sometimes the
suspicious could be prosperously purged of their suspicion. The police
chief of Calais, for example, suddenly was able to live in such
distracting luxury that he found it difficult to patrol the shoreline
thoroughly ....
While Napoleon struggled his might away in the Russian Winter,
there passed through France itself a gold vein to the army staving in
the Empire's back door.
1
1. Morton, p. 47.
226 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
At a dinner party in later years, Nathan casually summed up
the episode as though it were merely a good piece of routine
business. He said:
The East India Company had £800,000 worth of gold to sell. I went
to the sale and bought it all. I knew the Duke of Wellington must have
it. The government sent for me and said they must have the gold. I sold
the gold to them, but they didn't know how to get it to the Duke in
Portugal. I undertook all that and sent it through France. It was the
best business I have ever done.
1
THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO
The final outcome of the battle at Waterloo between Wellington
and Napoleon was crucial to Europe both politically and economi-
cally. If Napoleon had been victorious, England would have been
in even greater economic trouble than before. Not only would she
have lost international power and prestige, but even at home, her
subjects would have been further disgruntled over such great
personal and financial wartime sacrifices. Her defeat almost surely
would have resulted in not being able to repay the great amounts
she had borrowed to conduct the war. In the London stock
exchange, therefore, where British government bonds were traded
along with other securities, everyone waited anxiously for news of
the outcome.
It was well known that the Rothschilds had developed a private
courier service that was used, not only to transport gold and other
tangible cargo, but to rapidly move information that could be useful
in making investment decisions. It was expected, therefore, that
Nathan in London would be the first to know the name of the victor
after the cannon smoke had cleared from the battlefield. And they
were not to be disappointed. The first news of Wellington's victory
arrived in Brussels around midnight on June 18, 1815, where a
Rothschild agent named Rothworth was waiting in readiness. He
immediately mounted a fresh horse and set off for the port of
Ostend where a boat was standing by to speed him across the
channel to London. In the early hours of June 20, the exhausted
messenger was pounding on Nathan's door, a full twenty-four
hours before Wellington's own courier, Major Henry Percy,
arrived.
1. Morton, p. 45.
THE ROTHSCHILD FORMULA
227
At least one friendly biographer claims that Nathan's first act
was to deliver the news to the Prime Minister, but that government
officials were hesitant at first to believe it, because it ran contrary to
reports they had received previously telling of serious British
setbacks. At any rate, there is no doubt that Nathan's second act of
the morning was to set off for the stock exchange to take up a
position at his usual pillar.
All eyes were upon him as he slumped dejectedly, staring at the
floor. Then, he raised his gaze and, with pained expression, began
to sell. The whisper went through the crowded room, "Nathan is
selling?" "Nathan is selling!" "Wellington must have lost." "Our
government bonds will never be repaid." "Sell them now. Sell. Sell!"
. Prices tumbled, and Nathan sold again. Prices plummeted, and
sold. Finally, prices collapsed altogether and, in one
qUIck Nathan reversed his call and purchased the entire
market government bonds. In a matter of just a few hours, he
had acqUIred the dominant holding of England's entire debt at but
a tiny fraction of its worth. 1
SIDONIA
. Benjamin Disraeli, the Prime Minister of England, wrote a book
m 1844 called Coningsby. It was a political novel in which the author
expressed I:Us views about contemporary issues. One of the strong
book. was a financier named Sidonia, but every
detaIl Sidorua s actIOns was an exact replica of the real Lord
Rothschild, whom Disraeli greatly admired. In the guise of a novel,
we read Rothschild's emigration from Germany, his family
and ?ankmg tIes throughout Europe, his handling of the gold for
Wellmgton, and his financial coup after Waterloo. Then Disraeli
wrote:
Europe did require money, and Sidonia was ready to lend it to
Europe. France wanted some; Austria more; Prussia a little' Russia a
few millions. Sidonia could furnish them all.... '
It is z:ot. difficult to conceive that, after having pursued the career
We have mhmated for about ten years, Sidonia had become one of the
The New York Times, in its April 1, 1915, edition reported that Baron Nathan
de had to secure a order to suppress a book
;::tten by Ignahous Balla The Romance of the Rothschilds on the grounds that
Waterloo story about hIS grandfather was untrue and libelous. The court ruled
that the story was true, dismissed the suit, and ordered Rothschild to pay all court
COsts.
228 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
most considerable personages in Europe. He had established a
brother, or a near relative, in whom he could confide, in most of the
principal capitals. He was lord and master of the money market of the
world, and of course virtually lord and master of everything else. He
literally held the revenues of Southern Italy in pawn; and monarchs
and ministers of all countries courted his advice and were guided by
his suggestions.
l
That Disraeli was not exaggerating was made clear by the boast
of James Rothschild himself. When U.S. Treasury agents ap-
proached him in Paris in 1842 with a request for a loan to the
American government, he said to them: "You have seen the man
who is at the head of the finances of Europe."
2
There have always been men who were in a position to make
private fortunes out of cooperating with both sides in a war. The
Rothschilds were not unique in this, but they no doubt perfected
the art and became the personification of that breed. They were not
necessarily evil in a moral sense. What preoccupied their minds
were not questions of right or wrong but of profit and loss. This
analytical indifference to human suffering was aptly described by
one Rothschild when he said: "When the streets of Paris are
running with blood, I buy."3 They may have held citizenship in the
country of their residence, but patriotism was beyond their com-
prehension. They were also very bright, if not cunning, and these
combined traits made them the role model of the cool pragmatists
who dominate the political and financial world of today. Disraeli
well described this type when he wrote of Sidonia:
He was a man without affections. It would be harsh to say he had
no heart, for he was susceptible of deep emotions, but not for
individuals .... The individual never touched him. Woman was to him
ch
· 4
a toy, man a rna me.
lt would seem that an absence of patriotism and a cold,
analytical outlook would lead financiers to avoid making loans to
governments, particularly foreign ones. Private borrowers can be
hauled into court and their assets confiscated to make good on their
1. Benjamin Disrae1i, Coningsby (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, originally pUblished
in England in 1844), p. 225.
2. Stephen Birmingham, "Our Crowd": The Great Jewish Families of New York (New
York: Harper & Row, 1986), p. 73.
3. Quoted in The New York Times, October 21,1987, cited by Chernow, p. 13.
4. Disraeli, p. 229.
THE ROTHSCHILD FORMULA
229
debts. But governments control the legalized use of force. They are
the courts. They are the police. Who will seize their assets? The
answer is another government. Speaking of a relatively modern
example of this principle, Ron Chernow explains:
The new alliance [between the monetary and political scientists]
was mutually advantageous. Washington wanted to harness the new
financial power to coerce foreign governments into opening their
markets to American goods or adopting pro-American policies. The
banks, in tum, needed levers to force debt repayment and welcomed
the government's police powers in distant places. The threat of
military intervention was an excellent means by which to speed loan
repayment. When Kuhn, Loeb considered a loan to the Dominican
Republic, backed by customs receipts, Jacob Schiff inquired of his
London associate Sir Ernest Cassel, "If they do not pay, who will
collec\ these customs duties?" Cassel replied, "Your marines and
ours."
One of the great puzzles of history is why governments always
go into debt and seldom attempt to put themselves on a "pay-as-
you-go" basis. A partial answer is that kings and politicians lack
the courage to tax their subjects the enormous sums that would be
required under such an arrangement. There is also the deeper
question of why the expenditures are so high in the first place.
Given the mentality of the world's financial lords and masters,
as Disraeli described them, it is conceivable that a coldly calculated
strategy has been developed over the years to insure this result. In
fact, historical evidence strongly suggests that just such a plan
was developed in eighteenth-century Europe and perfected in
America. For the purposes of hypothetical analy-
SIS, let us identify this strategy as The Rothschild Formula.
THE FORMULA
Let us imagine a man who is totally pragmatic. He is smarter
and more cunning than most men and, in fact, holds them in thinly
disguised contempt. He may respect the talents of a few, but has
little concern over the condition of mankind. He has observed that
kings and politicians are always fighting over something or other
and has concluded that wars are inevitable. He also has learned
that wars can be profitable, not only by lending or creating the
1.. Quoted by Jacques Attali, translated by Barbara Ellls, A Man of Influence: Sir
SIegmund Warburg, 1902-82 (London: Weidenfeld, & Nicolson, 1986), p. 57.
230 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
money to finance them, but from government favoritism in the
granting of commercial subsidies or monopolies. He is not capable
of such a primitive feeling as patriotism, so he is free to participate
in the funding of any side in any conflict, limited only by factors of
self interest. If such a man were to survey the world around him, it
is not difficult to imagine that he would come to the folloWing
conclusions which would become the prime directives of his career:
1. War is the ultimate discipline to any government. If it can
successfully meet the challenge of war, it will survive. If it
cannot, it will perish. All else is secondary. The sanctity of its
laws, the prosperity of its citizens, and the solvency of its
treasury will be quickly sacrificed by any government in its
primal act of self-survival.
2. All that is necessary, therefore, to insure that a government will
maintain or expand its debt is to involve it in war or the threat of
war. The greater the threat and the more destructive the war, the
greater the need for debt.
3. To involve a country in war or the threat of war, it will be
necessary for it to have enemies with credible military might. If
such enemies already exist, all the beUer. If they exist but lack
military strength, it will be necessary to provide them the
money to build their war machine. If an enemy does not exist at
all, then it will be necessary to create one by financing the rise of
a hostile regime. ,
4. The ultimate obstaele is a government which declines to finance
its wars through debt. Although this seldom happens, when it
does, it will be necessary to encourage internal political
opposition, insurrection, or revolution to replace that
government with one that is more compliant to our will. The
assassination of heads of state could play an important role in
this process.
5. No nation can be allowed to remain militarily stronger than its
adversaries, for that could lead to peace and a reduction of debt.
To accomplish this balance of power, it may be necessary to
finance both sides of the conflict. Unless one of the combatants
is hostile to our interests and, therefore, must be destroyed,
neither side should be allowed a decisive victory or defeat.
While We must always proclaim the virtues of peace, the
unspoken objective is perpetual war.
THE ROTHSCHILD FORMULA
231
Whether anyone actually put this strategy into words or passed
it along from generation to generation is not important. In fact, it is
doubtful it has ever worked that way. Whether it is the product of
conscious or the consequence of men responding
to the profIt opportunIties inherent in fiat money, the world's
financial have acted as though they were following such a
plan, and this has become especially apparent since the creation of
the central-bank Mandrake Mechanism three centuries ago.
"balance-of-power" question is particularly intriguing.
Most history texts present the concept as though it were some kind
of natural, social phenomenon which, somehow, has worked to the
benefit of mankind. The implication is that it's just wonderful how,
after all those wars, no nation was strong enough to
completely dOmInate others. When the United States emerged
from World War II. WIth exactly such power, it was widely
deplored, and maSSIVe political! financial mechanisms such as
foreign aid and disarmament were set in motion to restore the
balance. This has become almost a revered doctrine of international
democracy. But the overlooked consequence of this sentimental
notion is that wars "between equals" have become the permanent
landscape of history.
. This does not mean that every war-like group that comes along
WIll find easy financing from the lords and masters. It depends on
whom they threaten and how likely they are to succeed. In 1830, for
the were facing an uprising of their subjects in
BelgIUm. Both the ruling government and the revolutionaries were
dependent upon the Rothschilds for financing their conflict. The
Dutch rulers were. reliat:'le for loans and, just as impor-
tant, they Were relIable In theIr payment of interest on those loans.
It would have been foolhardy to provide more than token assis-
tance to the rebels who, if they came to power, quite likely would
have refused to honor the debts of the former puppet regime.
Salomon Rothschild explained:
These. gentlemen should not count on us unless they decide to
follow a lme of prudence and moderation .... Our goodwill does not
yet extend to the point of putting clubs into the hands that would beat
us, that is, lending money to make war and ruin the credit that we
sustain with all our efforts and all our means.
1
1. As quoted by Derek Wilson, p. 100.
232 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
After the revolution was resolved by negotiation rather than by
arms, the new government in Brussels was a natural target for
financial takeover. James Rothschild laid out the strategy that has
become the model of such operations ever since:
Now is the moment of which we should take advantage to make
ourselves absolute masters of that country's finances. The first step
will be to establish ourselves on an intimate footing with Belgium's
new Finance Minister, to gain his confidence ... and to take all the
treasury bonds he may offer us.
1
PERPETUAL WAR IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND
Wars, great and small, have always been a plague to Europe,
but it was not until they were easy to finance through central
banking and fiat money that they became virtually perpetual. For
example, the following war chronicle begins immediately follow-
ing the formation of the Bank of England which, as you recall, was
created for the specific purpose of financing a war:
1689-1697 The War of the League of Augsberg
1702-1713 The War of Spanish Succession
1739-1742 The War of Jenkin's Ear
1744-1748 The War of Austrian Succession
1754-1763 The French and Indian War
1793-1801 The War against Revolutionary France
1803-1815 The Napoleonic Wars
In addition to these European conflicts, there also w e r ~ two
wars with America: the War for Independence and the War of 1812.
In the 126 years between 1689 and 1815, England was at war 63 of
them. That is one out of every two years in combat. The others were
spent preparing for combat.
The mark of the Rothschild Formula is unmistakable in these
conflicts. The monetary scientists often were seen financing both
sides. Whether ending in victory or defeat, the outcome merely
preserved or restored the European "balance of power." And the
most permanent result of any of these wars was expanded govern-
ment debt for all parties.
SUMMARY
By the end of the eighteenth century, the House of Rothschild
had become one of the most successful financial institutions the
1. Derek Wilson, p. 100.
THE ROTHSCHILD FORMULA 233
world has ever known. Its meteoric rise can be attributed to the
great industry and shrewdness of the five brothers who established
themselves in various capitals of Europe and forged the world's
first international financial network. As pioneers in the practice of
lending money to governments, they soon learned that this pro-
vided unique opportunities to parlay wealth into political power as
well. Before long, most of the princes and kings of Europe had
come within their influence.
The Rothschilds also had mastered the art of smuggling on a
grand scale, often with the tacit approval of the governments
whose laws they violated. This was perceived by all parties as an
unofficial bonus for providing needed funding to those same
governments, particularly in time of war. The fact that different
branches of the Rothschild network also might be providing funds
for the enemy was pragmatically ignored. Thus, a time-honored
practice among financiers was born: profiting from both sides.
The Rothschilds operated a highly efficient intelligence gather-
ing system which provided them with advance knowledge of
important events, knowledge which was invaluable for investment
decisions. When an exhausted Rothschild courier delivered the first
news of the Battle of Waterloo, Nathan was able to deceive the
London bond traders into a selling panic, and that allowed him to
acquire the dominant holding of England's entire debt at but a tiny
fraction of its worth.
A study of these and similar events reveals a personality
profile, not just of the Ro!hschilds, but of that special breed of
international financiers whose success typically is built upon
certain character traits. Those include cold objectivity, immunity to
patriotism, and indifference to the human condition. That profile is
the basis for proposing a theoretical strategy, called the Rothschild
Formula, which motivates such men to propel governments into
war for the profits they yield. This formula most likely has never
been consciously phrased as it appears here, but subconscious
motivations and personality traits work together to implement it
nevertheless. As long as the mechanism of central banking exists, it
will be to such men an irresistible temptation to convert debt into
perpetual war and war into perpetual debt.
In the following chapters we shall track the distinctive footprint
of the Rothschild Formula as it leads up to our own doorstep in the
present day.

Historisches Museum. Frankfurt, Germany
A satirical cartoon of 1848 depicts "Rothschild"
pondering over which of Europe's rulers to
favor with loans, while revolutionaries
challenge the ancient order he is supporting.
A caricature of Nathan Rothschild,
showing him in his habitual position
before one of the pillars in the Exchange.
It was here that he capitalized on his
advance knowledge of Wellington's
defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo and was
able to acquire the dominant holding of
England's entire debt at but a small
fraction of its worth.
234
"
British Museum Print Room
Chapter Twelve
SINK THE LUSITANIA!
The role of J.P. Morgan in providing loans to
England and France in World War I; the souring
of those loans as it became apparent that Germany
would win; the betrayal of a British ship and the
sacrifice of American passengers as a stratagem to
bring America into the war; the use of American
taxes to payoff the loans.
The origin of World War I usually is attributed to the assassina-
tion of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by a
Serbian nationalist in 1914. This was a serious affront to Austria but
hardly sufficient reason to plunge the world into a mortal conflict
that would claim over ten million lives and twenty million
wounded. American schoolchildren are taught that Uncle Sam
came into the war "to make the world safe for democracy." But, as
we shall see, the American war drums were pounded by men with
far less idealistic objectives.
Since the latter part of the eighteenth century, the Rothschild
Formula had controlled the political climate of Europe. Nations had
increasingly confronted each other over border disputes, colonial
territories, and trade routes. An arms race had been in progress for
many years; large, standing armies had been recruited and trained;
military alliances had been hammered together; all in preparation
for war. The assassination of Ferdinand was not the cause but the
trigger. It was merely the spark that lit the fuse that fired the first
loaded cannon.
AN INVESTMENT IN WAR
The exigencies of war in Europe required England and France to
go heavily into debt. When their respective central banks and local
merchant banks could no longer meet that need, the beleaguered
governments turned to the Americans and selected the House of
Morgan-acting as partners of the Rothschilds-to act as sales agent
for their bonds. Most of the money raised in this fashion was
236
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
quickly returned to the United States to acquire war-sensitive mate-
rials, and Morgan was selected as the U.s. purchase agent for those
as well. A commission was paid on all transactions in both direc-
tions: once when the money was borrowed and again when it was
spent. Furthermore, many of the companies receiving production
contracts were either owned outright by Morgan holding compa-
nies or were securely within his orbit of bank control. Under such an
arrangement, it will not be surprising to learn, as we shall in a
moment, that Morgan was not overly anxious to see hostilities come
to a close. Even the most honorable of men can be corrupted by the
temptation of such gigantic flows of cash.
Writing in the year 1919, just a few months after the end of the
war, John Moody says:
Not only did England and France pay for their supplies with
money furnished by Wall Street, but they made their purchases
through the same medium .... Inevitably the house of Morgan was
selected for this important task. Thus the war had given Wall Street an
entirely new role. Hitherto it has been exclusively the headquarters of
finance; now it became the greatest industrial mart the world had ever
known. In addition to selling stocks and bonds, financing railroads,
and performing the other tasks of a great banking center, Wall Street
began to deal in shells, cannon, submarines, blankets, clothing, shoes,
canned meats, wheat, and the thousands of other articles needed for
the prosecution of a great war.1
The money began to flow in January of 1915 when the House of
Morgan signed a contract with the British Army Council and the
Admiralty. The first purchase, curiously, was for horses, and the
amount tendered was $12 million. But that was but the first drop of
rain before the deluge. Total purchases would eventually climb to
an astronomical $3 billion. The firm became the largest consumer on
earth, spending up to $10 million per day. Morgan offices at 23 Wall
Street were mobbed by brokers and manufacturers seeking to cut a
deal. The bank had to post guards at every door and at the partners'
homes as well. Each month, Morgan presided over purchases which
were equal to the national product of the entire world just one
generation before.
1. John Moody, The Masters of Capital (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1919),
pp. 164-165.
2. Chernow, pp. 187-89.
SINK THE LUSITANIA! 237
Throughout all this, Morgan vigorously claimed to be a pacifist.
"Nobody could hate war more than I do," he told the Senate
Munitions Committee. But such professions of righteousness were
difficult to accept. Lewinsohn comments:
The 500 million dollar loan contracted in autumn 1915 brought to
the group of bankers, at whose head Morgan was, a net profit of 9
million dollars .... Again, in 1917, the French government paid to
Morgan's and other banks a commission of 1,500,000 dollars, and a
further million in 1918.
Besides the issue of loans there was another source of profit: the
purchase and sale of American stock which the Allies surrendered so
that they could buy munitions in the States. It is estimated that in the
course of the war some 2000 million [two billion] dollars passed in this
way through Morgan's hands. Even if the commission was very small,
transactions of such dimensions would give him an influence on the
stock market which would carry very real advantages ....
His hatred against war did not preveI\t him, citizen of a neutral
country, from furnishing belligerent powers with 4,400,000 rifles for a
matter of $194,000,000 .... The profits were such as to compensate to
some degree his hatred of warfare. According to his own account, he
received, as agent of the English and French governments, a
commission of 1% on orders totalling $3,000,000,000. That is, he
received some $30,000,000 .... Besides these two chief principals,
Morgan, however, also acted for Russia (for whom he did business
amounting to $412,000,000) and for Italy and Canada (figures for his
business with the last two not having been published) ....
J.P. Morgan, and some of his partners in the bank, were at the time
shareholders in companies that were ... concerns which made
profits from the orders he placed with them .... It is really
astonIshmg that a central buying organization should have been
confided to one who was buyer and seller at the same time.
l
GERMANY'S U-BOATS ALMOST WON THE WAR
But there were dark clouds gathering above Wall Street as the
War began to go badly for the Allies. With the passage of time and
the condensing of history, it is easy to forget that Germany and the
Central Powers almost won the war prior to U.S. entry. Employing
a small fleet of newly developed submarines, Germany was well on
her way to cutting off England and her allies from all outside help.
It was an amazing feat and it changed forever the concept of naval
warfare. Germany had a total of twenty-one U-boats, but, because
1. Lewinsohn, pp. 103-4, 222-24.
238 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
they constantly had to be repaired and serviced, the maximum
number at sea was only seven at anyone time. Yet, between 1914
and 1918, German submarines had sunk over 5,700 surface ships.
Three-hundred thousand tons of Allied shipping were sent to the
bottom every week. One out of every four steamers leaving the
British Isles never returned. In later years, British Foreign Secretary,
Arthur Balfour, wrote: "At that time, it certainly looked as though
we were going to lose the war. II 1 Robert Ferrell, in his Woodrow
Wilson and World War I, concluded: "The Allies approached the
brink of disaster, with no recourse other than to ask Germany for
terms."
2
William McAdoo, who was Secretary of the Treasury at the
time, says in his memoirs:
Across the sea came the dismay of the British-a dismay that
carried a deepening note of disaster. There was a fear, and a
well-grounded one, that England might be starved into abject
surrender .... On April 27, 1917, Ambassador Walter H. Page reported
confidentially to the President that the food in the British Isles was not
more than enough to feed the civil population for six weeks or two
months.
3
Under these circumstances, it became impossible for Morgan to
find new buyers for the Allied war bonds, neither for fresh funding
nor to replenish the old bonds which were coming due and facing
default. This was serious on several counts. If bond sales came to a
halt, there would be no money to continue purchasing war materi-
als. Commissions would be lost at both ends. Furthermore; if the
previously sold bonds were to go into default, as they certainly
would if Britain and France were forced to accept peace on
Germany's terms, the investors would sustain gigantic losses. Some-
thing had to be done. But what? Robert Ferrell hints at the answer:
In the mid thirties a Senate committee headed by Gerald P. Nye of
North Dakota investigated the pre-1917 munitions trade and raised a
possibility that the Wilson administration went to war because
American bankers needed to protect their Allied loans.
4
1. Balfour MSS, FO/800/208, British Foreign Office records, Public Record Office,
London, as cited by Robert H. Ferrell, Woodrow Wilson and World War I (New York:
Harper & Row, 1985), p. 35.
2. Ferrell, p. 12.
3. William G. McAdoo, Crowded Years (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1931; rpt.
New York: Kennikat Press, 1971), p. 392.
4. Ferrell, p. 88.
SINK THE LUSITANIA! 239
As previously mentioned by William McAdoo, the American
ambassador to England at that time was Walter Hines Page, a trus-
tee of Rockefeller's social-engineering foundation called the
General Education Board. It was learned by the Nye committee that,
in addition to his government salary, which he complained was not
high enough, Page also received an allowance of $25,000 a year (an
enormous amount in 1917) from Cleveland Dodge, president of
Rockefeller's National City Bank. On March 15, 1917, Ambassador
Page sent a telegram to the State Department outlining the financial
crisis in England. Since sources of new capital had dried up, the
only way to keep the war going, he said, was to make direct grants
from the U.S. Treasury. But, since this would be a violation of neu-
trality treaties, the United States would have to abandon its neutral-
ity and enter the war. He said:
I think that the pressure of this approaching crisis has gone
beyond the ability of the Morgan Financial Agency for the British and
French Governments .... The greatest help we could give the Allies
would be such a credit.. .. Unless we go to war with Germany, our
Government, of course, cannot make such a direct grant of credit.
1
The Morgan group had floated one-and-a-half billion dollars in
loans to Britain and France. With the fortunes of war turning against
them, investors were facing the threat of a total loss. As Ferdinand
Lundberg observed: "The declaration of war by the United States, in
addition to extricating the wealthiest American families from a dan-
gerous situation, also opened new vistas of profits."
2
COLONEL HOUSE
One of the most influential men behind the scenes at this time
Was Colonel Edward Mandell House, personal adviser to Woodrow
Wilson and, later, to F.D.R. House had close contacts with both J.P.
Morgan and the old banking families of Europe. He had received
several years of his schooling in England and, in later years, sur-
rounded himself with prominent members of the Fabian Society.
Furthermore, he was a man of great personal wealth, most of it
acquired during the War Between the States. His father, Thomas
William House, had acted as the confidential American agent of
1. Quoted by Ferdinand Lundberg, America's Sixty Families (New York: Vanguard
Press, 1937), p. 141. Also see Link et aI., eds., The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, Vol. 41
(1983), pp. 336-37, cited by Ferrell, p. 90.
2. Lundberg, pp. 141--42.
240 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
unknown banking interests in London. It was commonly believed
he represented the Rothschilds. Although settled in Houston, Texas,
the elder often remarked that he wanted his sons to "know and
serve England." He was one of the few residents of a Confederate
state who emerged from the War with a great fortune.
It is widely acknowledged that Colonel House was the man who
selected Wilson as a presidential candidate and who secured his
nomination.
1
He became Wilson's constant companion, and the
President admitted publicly that he depended on him greatly for
instruction and guidance. Many of Wilson's important appointive
posts in government were hand selected by House. He and Wilson
even went so far as to develop a frivate so could con:mu-
nicate freely over the telephone. The PresIdent himself had wntten:
"Mr. House is my second personality. He is my independent self.
H
· h h d· ,,3
IS t oug ts an mme are one.
George Viereck, an admiring biographer of House, tells us:
House had the Texas delegation in his pocket. .. . Always moving
quietly in the background, he made and unmade several governors of
Texas .... House selected Wilson because he regarded him as the best
available candidate ....
For seven long years Colonel House was Woodrow Wilson's other
self. For six long years he shared with him all but the title of the Chief
Magistracy of the Republic. For six years two rooms were at his
disposal in the North Wing of the White House ... . It was House who
made the slate for the Cabinet, formulated the first of the
Administration and practically directed the foreign affair's of the
United States. We had, indeed, two Presidents for one!. ..
Super-ambassador, he talked to emperors and kings as an equal. He
was the spiritual generalissimo of the Administration. He was the pilot
who guided the ship.4
A SECRET AGREEMENT TO GET THE U.S. INTO WAR
As the presidential election neared for Wilson's second term,
Colonel House entered into a series of confidential talks with Sir
1. The Columbia Encyclopedia (Third Edition, 1962, p. 2334) says the Democratic
Party nomination went to Wilson when William Jennings Bryan switched his
support to him "prompted by Edward M. House." For details, see Martin, p. 155.
2. Charles Seymour, The Intimate Papers of Colonel House (New York: Houghton
Mifflin Co., 1926), Vol. I, pp. 114-15.
3. Seymour, Vol. I, p. 114.
4. George Sylvester Viereck, The Strangest Friendship in History: Woodrow Wilson
and Colonel House (New York: Liveright Publishers, 1932), pp. 4, 18-19, 33, 35.
SINK THE LUSITANIA! 241
William Wiseman, who was attached to the British embassy in
Washington and who acted as a secret intermediary between House
and the British Foreign Office. Charles Seymour writes: "Between
House and Wiseman there were soon to be few political secrets."l
This was upsetting to the Secretary of State, William Jennings
Bryan. Mrs. Bryan, as co-author of her husband's memoirs, writes:
While Secretary Bryan was bearing the heavy responsibility of the
Department of State, there arose the curious conditions surrounding
Mr. E.M. House's unofficial connection with the President and his
voyages abroad on affairs of State, which were not communicated to
Secretary Bryan ... . The President was unofficially dealing with foreign
2
governments.
What was the purpose of those dealings? It was nothing less
than to work out the means whereby the United States could be
brought into the war. Viereck explains:
Ten months before the election which returned Wilson to the
White House in 1916 "because he kept us out of war," Colonel House
negotiated a secret agreement with England and France on behalf of
Wilson which pledged the United States to intervene on behalf of the
Allies.
On March 9, 1916, Woodrow Wilson formally sanctioned the
undertaking. If an inkling of the conversations between Colonel
House and the leaders of England and France had reached the
American people before the election, it might have caused incalculable
revulsions of public opinion ....
From this conversation and various conferences with Sir Edward
Grey grew the Secret Treaty, made without the knowledge and
consent of the United States Senate, by which Woodrow Wilson and
House chained the United States to the chariot of the Entente .... After
the War the text of the agreement leaked out. Grey was the first to
tattle. Page discussed it at length. Colonel House tells its history.
C. Hartley Grattan discusses it at length in his book, Why We Fought.
But for some incomprehensible reason the enormous significance of
the revelation never penetrated the consciousness of the American
people.
3
1. Seymour, Vol. II, p. 399.
2. William Jennings Bryan and Mary Baird Bryan, The Memoirs of William Jennings
Bryan (New York: Kennikat Press, 1925), Vol. II, pp. 404-5.
3. Viereck, pp. 106-08. This matter, along with the complete text of Sir Grey's
memorandum, is discussed in The Memoirs of William Jennings Bryan Vol. II, pp.
404-6.
242 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
The basic terms of the agreement were that the United States
government would offer to negotiate a peaceful settlement between
Germany and the Allies and would then put forth a specific pro-
posal for the terms of that settlement. If either side refused to accept
the proposal, then the United States would come into the war as an
ally of the other side. The catch was that the terms of the proposal
were carefully drafted so that Germany could not possibly accept
them. Thus, to the world, it would look as though Germany was at
fault and the United States was humanitarian. As Ambassador Page
observed in a memorandum dated February 9, 1916:
House arrived from Berlin-Havre-Paris full of the idea of
American intervention. First his plan was that he and I and a group of
the British Cabinet (Grey, Asquith, Lloyd George, Reading, etc.)
should at once work out a minimum programme of peace-the least
that the Allies would accept, which, he assumed, would be unacceptable to
the Germans; and that the President would take this programme and
present it to both sides; the side that declined would be responsible for
continuing the war .... Of course, the fatal moral weakness of the
foregoing scheme is that we should plunge into the War, not on the
merits of the cause, but by a carefully sprung trick.}
On the surface it is a paradox that Wilson, who had always been
a pacifist, should now enter into a secret agreement with foreign
powers to involve the United States in a war which she could easily
avoid. The key that unlocks this mystery is the fact that Wilson also
was an internationalist. One of the strongest bonds between. House
and himself was their common dream of a world government. They
both recognized that the American people would never accept such
a concept unless there were extenuating circumstances. They rea-
soned that a long and bloody war was probably the only event that
could condition the American mind to accept the loss of national
sovereignty, especially if it were packaged with the promise of put-
ting an end to all wars in the future. Wilson knew, also, that, if the
United States came into the war early enough to make a real differ-
ence on the battlefield and if large amounts of American dollars
could be loaned to the Allied powers, he would be in a position after
the war to dictate the terms of peace. He wrote to Colonel House:
"England and France have not the same views with regard to peace
as we have by any means. When the war is over, we can force them
1. Quoted by Viereck, pp. 112-13.
SINK THE LUSITANIA! 243
to our way of thinking, because by that time they will among other
things be financially in our hands."l And so Wilson tolerated the
agony of mixed emotions as he plotted for war as a necessary evil to
bring about what he perceived as the ultimate good of world gov-
ernment.
With the arrival of 1917, the President was planting hints of both
war and world government in almost every public utterance. In a
typical statement made in March of that year, he said: "The tragic
events of the thirty months of vital turmoil through which we have
just passed have made us citizens of the world. There can be no
turning back. Our own fortunes as a nation are involved, whether
we would have it so or not.,,2
It was about this same time that Wilson called together the
Democratic leaders of Congress to a special breakfast meeting at the
White House. He told them that, in spite of public sentiment, there
were many sound reasons for the country to enter the war and he
asked them to help him sell this plan to Congress and the voters.
Harry Elmer Barnes tells us:
These men were opposed to war and, hence, rejected his proposals
somewhat heatedly. Wilson knew that it was a poor time to split the
party just before an election, so he dropped the matter at once and,
with Col. House, mapped out a pacifist platform for the coming
campaign. Governor Martin Glynn of New York and Senator Ollie
James of Kentucky were sent to the St. Louis convention to make
keynote speeches, which were based on the slogan: "He kept us out of
war!" ... Before he had been inaugurated a second time, the Germans
played directly into his hands by announcing the resumption of
submarine warfare ... . It was fortunate for Britain and the bankers that
the Germans made this timely blunder, as Great Britain had
overdrawn her American credit by some $450,000,000 and the bankers
Were having trouble in floating more large private loans. It was
necessary now to fass on the burden of financing the Entente to the
Federal Treasury.
1. Quoted by Ferrell, p. 88.
2 Ferrell, p. 12.
3. Harry Elmer Barnes, In Quest of Truth and Justice: De-Bunkmg the War Guilt Myth
(Chicago: National Historical Society, 1928; rpt. New York: Amo Press & The New
York Times, 1972), p. 104. For an additional account of this meeting, see Viereck, pp.
180-83.
244 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
SELLING WAR TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
Through secret agreements and trickery, America had been
committed to war, but the political and monetary scientists realized
that something still had to be done to change public sentiment. How
could that be accomplished?
Wall Street control over important segments of the media was
considerable. George Wheeler tells us: "Around this time the
Morgan firm was choosing the top executives for the old and trou-
bled Harper & Brothers publishing house .... In the newspaper field,
Pierpont Morgan at this period was in effective control of the New
York Sun, ... the Boston News Bureau, Barron's magazine, and the
Wall Street Journal."l
On February 9,1917, Representative Callaway from Texas took
the floor of Congress and provided further insight. He said:
In March, 1915, the J.P. Morgan interests, the steel, shipbuilding,
and powder interests, and their subsidiary organizations, got together
12 men high up in the newspaper world and employed them to select
the most influential newspapers in the United States and sufficient
number of them to control generally the policy of the daily press .. . .
They found it was only necessary to purchase the control of 25 of the
greatest papers .. .. An agreement was reached; the policy of the papers
was bought, to be paid for by the month; an editor was furnished for
each paper to properly supervise and edit information regarding the
questions of preparedness, militarism, financial policies, and other
things of national and international nature considered vital to the
interests of the purchasers.
2
. •
Charles S. Mellen of the New Haven Railroad testified before
Congress that his Morgan-owned railroad had more than one-
thousand New England newspapers on the payroll, costing about
$400,000 annually. The railroad also held almost a half-million dol-
lars in bonds issued by the Boston Herald.
3
This web of control was
multiplied by hundreds of additional companies which also were
controlled by Morgan and other investment-banking houses.
In addition, the Morgan trust exercised media control by its
power of advertising. Writing in 1937, Lundberg says: "More adver-
tising is controlled by the J.P. Morgan junta than by any single
1. George Wheeler, Pierpont Morgan and Friends: The Anatomy of a Myth (Engle-
wood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1973), pp. 283--84.
2. Congressional Record, Vol. 54, Feb. 9, 1917, p. 2947
3. Lundberg, p. 257.
SINK THE LUSITANIA! 245
financial group, a factor which immediately gives the b a n k i n ~
house the respectful attention of all alert independent publishers."
Morgan control over the media at that time is well documented,
but he was by no means alone in this. During the 1912 hearings held
by the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee, it was revealed
that Representative Joseph Sibley from Pennsylvania was acting as
a funnel for Rockefeller money to various cooperative Congress-
men. A letter was introduced to the Committee written by Sibley in
1905 to John D. Archbold, the man at Rockefeller's Standard Oil
Company who provided the money. In that letter Sibley said: "An
efficient literary bureau is needed, not for a day or a crisis but a
permanent healthy control of the Associated Press and kindred
avenues. It will cost money but will be the cheapest in the end.,,2
Lundberg comments further:
So far as can be learned, the Rockefellers have given up their old
policy of owning newspapers and magazines outright, relying now
upon the publications of all camps to serve their best interests in return
for the vast volume of petroleum and allied advertising under
Rockefeller control. After the J.P. Morgan bloc, the Rockefellers have
the most advertising of any group to dispose of. And when advertising
alone is not sufficient to insure the fealty of a newspaper, the
Rockefeller companies have been known to make direct payments in
return for a friendly editorial attitude.
3
It is not surprising, therefore, that a large part of the nation's
press, particularly in the East, began to editorially denounce
Germany. The cry spread across the land to take up arms against
"the enemy of western civilization." Editors became eloquent on the
patriotic duty of all Americans to defend world democracy. Massive
"preparedness" demonstrations and parades were organized.
But it was not enough. In spite of this massive sales campaign,
the American people still were not buying. Polls conducted at the
time showed popular sentiment continuing to run ten-to-one in
favor of staying out of Europe's war. Clearly, what was needed was
something both drastic and dramatic to change public opinion.
1. Lundberg, p. 252.
2. Ibid., pp. 97,249.
3. Ibid., p. 247.
246 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
MORGAN CONTROL OVER SHIPPING
Banking was not the only business in which Morgan had a
strong financial interest. Using his control over the nation's rail-
roads as he created an international shipping
trust which mcluded Germany s two largest lines plus one of the
two in England, the White Star lines. Morgan had attempted in
1902 to take over the remaining British line, the Cunard Company,
but was blocked by the British Admiralty which wanted to keep
Cunard out of foreign control so her ships could be pressed into
military service, if necessary, in time of war. The Lusitania and the
Mauretania were built by Cunard and became major competitors of
the Morgan cartel. It is an interesting footnote of history, therefore,
that, from the Morgan perspective, the Lusitania was quite dispensa-
ble. Ron Chernow explains:
Pierpont assembled a plan for an American-owned shipping trust
that would transpose his "community of interest"
principle-cooperation among competitors in a given industry-to a
global plane. He created ... the world's largest [fleet] under private
ownership .... An important architect of the shipping trust was Albert
Ballin, whose Hamburg-Amerika Steamship line, with hundreds of
vessels, was the world's largest shipping company .... Pierpont had to
contend with a single holdout, Britain's Cunard line .... After the Boer
War, the Morgan combine and Cunard exhausted each other in
debilitating rate wars."l
As stated previously, Morgan had been retained as the 'official
trade agent for Britain. He handled the purchasing of all war mate-
rials in the United States and coordinated their shipping as well.
Following in the footsteps of the Rothschilds of centuries past, he
quickly learned the profitable skills of war-time smuggling. Colin
Simpson, author of The Lusitania, describes the operation:
Throughout the period of America's neutrality, British servicemen
in civilian clothes worked at Morgan's. This great banking combine
rapidly established such a labyrinthine network of false shippers, bank
accounts and all the paraphernalia of smuggling that, although they
fooled the Germans, there were also some very serious occasions
when they flummoxed the Admiralty and Cunard, not to speak of the
unfortunate passengers on the liners which carried the contraband?
1. Chernow, pp. 100--01.
2. Colin Simpson, The Lusitania (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1972), p. 50.
SINK THE LUSITANIA! 247
THE LUSITANIA
The Lusitania was a British passenger liner that sailed regularly
between liverpool and New York. She was owned by the Cunard
Company, which, as previously mentioned, was the only major ship
line which was a competitor of the Morgan cartel. She left New York
harbor on May 1, 1915, and was sunk by a German submarine off
the coast of Ireland six days later. Of the 1,195 persons who lost their
lives, 195 were Americans. It was this event, more than any other,
that provided the advocates of war with a convincing platform for
their views, and it became the turning point where Americans reluc-
tantly began to accept, if not the necessity of war, at least its inevita-
bility.
The fact that the Lusitania was a passenger ship is misleading.
Although she was built as a luxury liner, her construction specifica-
tions were drawn up by the British Admiralty so that she could be
converted, if necessary, into a ship of war. Everything from the
horsepower of her engines and the shape of her hull to the place-
ment of ammunition storage areas were, in fact, military designs.
She was built specifically to carry twelve six-inch guns. The con-
struction costs for these features were paid for by the British govern-
ment. Even in times of peace, it was required that her crew include
officers and seamen from the Royal Navy Reserve.
In May of 1913, she was brought back into dry dock and outfit-
ted with extra armor, revolving gun rings on her decks, and shell
racks in the hold for ammunition. Handling elevators to lift the
shells to the guns were also installed. Twelve high-explosive can-
nons were delivered to the dry dock. All this is a matter of public
record at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England,
but whether the guns were actually installed at that time is still hotl y
debated. There is no evidence that they were. In any event, on
September 17, the Lusitania returned to sea ready for the rigors of
war, and she was entered into the Admiralty fleet register, not as a
passenger liner, but an armed auxiliary cruiser! From then on, she was
listed in Jane's Fighting Ships as an auxiliary cruiser and in the British
publication, The Naval Annual, as an armed merchant man.
1
Part of the dry dock modification was to remove all the passen-
ger accommodations in the lower deck to make room for more
1. Simpson, pp. 17-28, 70.
248 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
military cargo. Thus, the Lusitania became one of the most impor-
tant carriers of war materials-including munitions-from the
United States to England. On March 8, 1915, after several close calls
with German submarines, the captain of the Lusitania turned in his
resignation. He was willing to face the U-boats, he said, but he Was
no longer willing "to carry the responsibility of mixing passengers
. h . . t b d"l
WIt munItions or con ra an .
CHURCHILL SETS A TRAP
From England's point of view, the handwriting on the wall was
clear. Unless the United States could be brought into the war as her
ally, she soon would have to sue for peace. The challenge was how
to push Americans off their position of stubborn neutrality. How
that was accomplished is one of the more controversial aspects of
the war. It is inconceivable to many that English leaders might have
deliberately plotted the destruction of one of their own vessels with
American citizens aboard as a means of drawing the United States
into the war as an ally. Surely, any such idea is merely German
propaganda. Robert Ballard, writing in National Geographic, says:
"Within days of the sinking, German sympathizers in New York
came up with a conspiracy theory. The British Admiralty, they said,
had deliberately exposed Lusitania to harm, hoping she would be
attacked and thus draw the U.S. into the war.,,2
Let's take a closer look at this conspiracy theory. Winston
Churchill, who was First Lord of the Admiralty at that time, said:
There are many kinds of maneuvers in war. ... There are
maneuvers in time, in diplomacy, in mechanics, in psychology; all of
which are removed from the battlefield, but react often decisively
upon it .... The maneuver which brings an ally into the field is as
serviceable as that which wins a great battle. The maneuver which
gains an important strategic point may be less valuable than that
which placates or overawes a dangerous neutral.
3
The maneuver chosen by Churchill was particularly ruthless.
Under what was called the Cruiser Rules, warships of both England
and Germany gave the crews of unarmed enemy merchant ships a
1. Simpson, p. 87.
2. "Riddle of the Lusitania," by Robert Ballard, National Geographic, April, 1994,
p. 74.
3. Winston Churchill, The World Crisis (New York: Scribner's Sons, 1949), p. 300·
This appears on p. 464 of the Barnes & Noble 1993 reprint.
SINK THE LUSITANIA! 249
chance to take to the lifeboats before sinking them. But, in October
of 1914, Churchill issued orders that British merchant ships must no
longer obey a U-boat order to halt and be searched. If they had
armament, they were to engage the enemy. If they did not, they
were to attempt to ram the sub. The immediate result of this change
was to force German U-boats to remain submerged for protection
and to simply sink the ships without warning .
Why would the British want to do such a stupid thing that
would cost the lives of thousands of their own seamen? The answer
is that it was not an act of stupidity. It was cold blooded strategy.
Churchill boasted:
The first British countermove, made on my responsibility,. .. was to
deter the Germans from surface attack. The submerged U-boat had to
rely increasingly on underwater attack and thus ran the greater risk of
mistaking neutral for British ships and of drowning neutral crews and
thus embroiling Gennany with other Great Powers.
1
To increase the likelihood of accidentally sinking a ship from a
neutral "Great Power," Churchill ordered British ships to remove
their names from their hulls and, when in port, to fly the flag of a
neutral power, preferably that of the United States. As further
provocation, the British navy was ordered to treat captured U-boat
crew members not as prisoners of war but as felons. "Survivors,"
wrote Churchill, "should be taken prisoner or shot-whichever is
the most convenient.,,2 Other orders, which now are an embarrass-
ing part of official navy archives, were even more ruthless: "In all
actions, white flags should be fired upon with promptitude.,,3
The trap was carefully laid. The German navy was goaded into
a position of shoot-first and ask questions later and, under those
conditions, it was inevitable that American lives would be lost.
A FLOATING MUNITIONS DEPOT
After many years of investigation, it is now possible to identify
the cargo that was loaded aboard the Lusitania on her last voyage. It
included 600 tons of pyroxyline (commonly called gun cotton),4
1. Churchill, pp. 274-75.
2 Taken from the Diaries of Admiral Sir Hubert Richmond, Feb. 27,1915, National
Maritime Museum, Greenwich, as quoted by Simpson, p. 37.
3. P.R.o., ADM/116/1359, Dec. 23, 1914, quoted by Simpson, p. 37.
4. Gun cotton explodes with three-times the force of gunpowder in a confined
space and can be ignited at a much lower flash point. See Eissler, Manuel, Modern
High Explosives (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1914), pp. 110, 112,372.
250 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
six-million rounds of ammunition, 1,248 cases of shrapnel shells
(which may not have included explosive charges), plus an unknown
quantity of munitions that completely filled the holds on the lowest
deck and the trunkways and passageways of F deck. In addition
there were many tons of "cheese," "lard," "furs" and other i t e ~
which were shown later to be falsely labelled. What they were is not
now known, but it is certain they were at least contraband if not
outright weapons of war. They were all consigned through the J.P.
Morgan Company. But none of this was suspected by the public,
least of all those hapless Americans who unknowingly booked a
passage to death for themselves and their families as human decoys
in a global game of high finance and low politics.
The German embassy in Washington was well aware of the
nature of the cargo being loaded aboard the Lusitania and filed a
formal complaint to the United States government, because almost
all of it was in direct violation of international neutrality treaties.
The response was a flat denial of any knowledge of such cargo.
Seeing that the Wilson Administration was tacitly approving the
shipment, the German embassy made one final effort to avert disas-
ter. It placed an ad in fifty East Coast newspapers, including those
in New York City, warning Americans not to take passage on the
Lusitania. The ad was prepaid and requested to be placed on the
paper's travel page a full week before the sailing date. It read as
follows:
NOTICE!
TRA VELERS intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage
are reminded that a state of war exists between Germany
and her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone
of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that,
in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial
German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great
Britain, or of any of her allies, are liable to destruction in
those waters and that travelers sailing in the war zone on
ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.
IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY
Washington, D.C., April 22, 1915.
SINK THE LUSITANIA! 251
Although the ad was in the hands of newspapers in time for the
requested deadline, the State Department intervened and, raising
the specter of possible libel suits, frightened the publishers into not
printing it without prior clearance from State Department attorneys.
Of the fifty newspapers, only the Des Moines Register carried the ad
on the requested date. What happened next is described by
Simpson:
George Viereck [who was the editor of a German-owned
newspaper at that time and who had placed the ads on behalf of the
embassy] spent April 26 asking the State Department why his
advertisement had not been published. Eventually he managed to
obtain an interview with [Secretary of State, William Jennings] Bryan
and pointed out to him that on all but one of her wartime voyages the
Lusitania had carried munitions. He produced copies of her
supplementary manifests, which were open to public inspection at the
collector's office. More important, he informed Bryan, no fewer than
six million rounds of ammunition were due to be shipped on the
Lusitania the following Friday and could be seen at that moment being
loaded on pier 54. Bryan picked up the telephone and cleared the
publication of the advertisement. He promised Viereck that he would
endeavor to persuade the President publicly to warn Americans not to
travel. No such warning was issued by the President, but there can be
no doubt that President Wilson was told of the character of the cargo
destined for the Lusitania. He did nothing, but was to concede on the
day he was told of her sinking that his foreknowledge had given him
many sleepless hours.}
It is probably true that Wilson was a pacifist at heart, but it is
equally certain that he was not entirely the master of his own des-
tiny. He was a transplanted college professor from the ivy-covered
walls of Princeton, an internationalist at heart who dreamed of help-
ing to create a world government and to usher in a millennium of
peace. But he found himself surrounded by and dependent upon
men of strong wills, astute political aptitudes, and powerful finan-
cial resources. Against these forces, he was all but powerless to act
on his own, and there is good reason to believe that he inwardly
suffered over many of the events in which he was compelled to par-
ticipate. We shall leave it to others to moralize about a man who, by
his deliberate refusal to warn his countrymen of their mortal peril,
sends 195 of them to their watery graves. We may wonder, also,
1. Simpson, p. 97.
252 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
about how such a man can commit the ultimate hypocrisy of
condemning the Germans for this act and then doing everything
possible to prevent the American public from learning the truth. It
would be surprising if the extent of his private remorse was not
greater than merely a few sleepless hours.
THE FINAL VOYAGE
But we are getting slightly ahead of the story. While Morgan
and Wilson were setting the deadly stage on the American side of
the Atlantic, Churchill was playing his part on the European side.
When the Lusitania left New York Harbor on May I, her orders were
to rendezvous with a British destroyer, the Juno, just off the coast of
Ireland so she would have naval protection as she entered hostile
waters. When the Lusitania reached the rendezvous point, however,
she was alone, and the captain assumed they had each other
in the fog. In truth, the Juno had been called out of the area at the last
minute and ordered to return to Queenstown. And this was done
with the full knowledge that the Lusitania was on a direct course
into an area where a German submarine was known to be operat-
ing. To make matters worse, the Lusitania had been ordered to cut
back on the use of coal, not because of shortages, but because it
would be less expensive. Slow targets, of course, are much easier to
hit. Yet, she was required to shut down one of her four boilers and,
consequently, was now entering submarine-infested waters at only
75% of her potential speed. ..
As the Lusitania drew closer to hostile waters, almost everyone
knew she was in grave danger. Newspapers in London were alive
with the story of German warnings and recent sinkings. In the map
room of the British Admiralty, Churchill watched the play unfold
and coldly called the shots. Small disks marked the places where
two ships had been torpedoed the day before. A circle indicated the
area within which the U-boat must still be operating. A larger disk
represented the Lusitania travelling at nineteen knots directly into the
circle. Yet, nothing was done to help her. Admiral Coke at Queen-
stown was given perfunctory instructions to protect her as best he
could, but he had no means to do so and, in fact, no one even both-
ered to notify the captain of the Lusitania that the rendezvous with
the Juno had been canceled.
One of the officers present in the high-command map room on
that fateful , day was Commander Joseph Kenworthy, who pre-
SINK THE LUSITANlA!
253
viously had been called upon by Churchill a paper ?n
hat would be the political results of an ocean lmer bemg sunk WIth
passengers aboard. He left the room in disgust at the
cynicism of his superiors. In 1927, in book, of the
seas, he wrote without further comment: The Lusttama was sent at
considerably reduced speed into an area where a U-boat was
known to be waiting and with her escorts withdrawn.,,1 Further
comment is not needed.
Colonel House was in England at that time and, on the day of
the sinking, was scheduled to have an audience with King
George V. He was accompanied by Sir Edward Grey and, on the
way, Sir Grey asked him: "What will America do if the Germans
sink an ocean liner with American passengers on board?" As
recorded in House's diaries, he replied: "I told him if this were
done, a flame of indignation would sweep America, which would in
itself probably carry us into the war."
2
Once at Buckingham Palace,
King George also brought up the subject and was even more specific
about the possible target. He asked, "Suppose ther should sink the
Lusitania with American passengers on board .... "
A MIGHTY EXPLOSION, A WATERY GRAVE
Four hours after this conversation, the black smoke of the
Lusitania was spotted on the horizon through the periscope of the
German submarine, U-20. The ship came directly toward the
U-boat, allowing it to full-throttle out of her path and swing around
for a ninety-degree shot at her bow as she passed only 750 yards
away. The torpedo struck nine feet below the water line on the star-
board side slightly forward of the bridge. A second torpedo was
readied but not needed. Quickly after the explosion of the impact,
there was a second and much larger explosion that literally blew the
side off of cargo hold number two and started the great ship imme-
diately toward the bottom. And what a hole it must have been. The
Lusitania, one of the largest ships ever built, sank in less than eight-
een minutes!
1. Joseph M. Kenworthy and George Young. The Freedom of the Seas (New York:
Ayer Company, 1929), p. 211.
2. Seymour, Vol I, p. 432
3. Ibid., p. 432.
254
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
Surviv?rs among the crew who were working in the boiler
rooms dunng the attack have attested that the boilers did not blow
at that time. Simpson tells us:
. The G had failed to blow in the inner bulkhead of No.1
bOIler room, but Just further forward something blew out most of the
bottom of the bow of the ship. It may have been the Bethlehem
Company's 3-inch shells, the six million rounds of rifle ammunition 0
the highly dubious contents of the bales of furs or the
forty-pound boxes of cheese. Divers who have been down to the wreck
unanimously testify that the bow was blasted by a massive internal
explosion, and large pieces of the bow plating, buckled from the
inside, are to be found some distance from the hull.
l
When a search team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti-
surveyed the wreckage in the summer of 1993, they reported:
When our cameras swept across the hold, we got a big surprise:
There was no hole .... We found no evidence that U-20's torpedo had
detonated an explosion, undermining one theory of why the liner
sank.,,2
It is difficult to share the team's surprise. Photographs show that
the wreck is resting on its starboard (right) side. Since that is where
the torpedo struck, it is logical that the hole would not be visible. It
would be on the side buried in the ocean floor. The team reported
that they were able to inspect only part of the hull's underside. That
is because most of it-plus the entire starboard side-is buried in the
muck. Since the torpedo struck only nine feet below the waterline,
the hole would not logically be anywhere near the bottom of the
hull but at a point midway between the main deck and the bottom.
In other words, it would be at the midpoint of the side that is now
down. Failure to see the hole does not undermine the theory
of mternal explosion. It is exactly what one would expect.
In any event, it should be obvious that the Lusitania would not
have gone to the bottom in eighteen minutes without a hole some-
where. the search team had to acknowledge that fact indirectly
when It addressed the question of what might have caused the
an obvious effort to avoid giving support to a
conspIracy theory, the report concluded that the explosion prob-
ably was caused, not by munitions, but by coal dust.
1. Simpson, p. 157.
2. Ballard, "Riddle of the Lusitania," pp. 74, 76.
SINK THE LUSITANIA! 255
In the final analysis, it makes little difference whether the explo-
sion was caused by munitions or coal dust. The fact that it could have
been caused by munitions is sufficient for the case .
A HURRIED COVER-UP
An official inquiry, under the direction of Lord Mersey, was
held to determine the facts of the sinking and to place the blame. It
was a rigged affair from the beginning. All evidence and testimony
was carefully pre-screened to make sure that nothing was admitted
into the record which would reveal duplicity on the part of British
or American officials. Among the papers submitted to Lord Mersey
prior to the hearings was one from Captain Richard Webb, one of
the men chosen by the navy to assist in the cover up. It read: "I am
directed by the board of Admiralty to inform you that it is consid-
ered politically expedient that Captain Turner, the master of the
Lusitania, be most prominently blamed for the disaster."l
The final report was a most interesting document. Anyone read-
ing it without knowledge of the facts would conclude that Captain
William Turner was to blame for the disaster. Even so, Mersey
attempted to soften the blow. He wrote: " ... blame ought not to be
imputed to the captain .... His omission to follow the advice in all
respects cannot fairly be attributed either to negligence or incompe-
tence." And then he added a final paragraph which, on the surface,
appears to be a condemnation of the Germans but which, if read
with understanding of the background, was an indictment of
Churchill, Wilson, House and Morgan. He wrote:
The whole blame for the cruel destruction of life in this
catastrophe must rest solely with those who plotted and with those
who committed the crime.
2
Did Lord Mersey know that there could be a dual meaning to his
words? Perhaps not, but, two days after delivering his judgment, he
wrote to Prime Minister Asquith and turned down his fee for serv-
ices. He added: "I must request that henceforth I be excused from
administering His Majesty's Justice." In later years, his only com-
ment on the event was: "The Lusitania case was a damn dirty
b
· ,,3
usmess.
1. The Papers of Lord Mersey, Bignor Park, Sussex, as quoted by Simpson, p. 190.
2. Simpson, p. 241.
3. Ibid., p. 241.
256
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
THE CRY FOR WAR
The purposes of the Cabal would have been better served had
an American ship been sunk by the Germans, but a British ship with
195 Americans drowned was sufficient to do the job. The players
wasted no time in whipping up public sentiment. Wilson sent a note
of outraged indignation to the Imperial German Government, and
this was widely quoted in the press.
By that time, Bryan had become completely disillusioned by the
duplicity of his own government. On May 9, he sent a dour note to
Wilson:
Germany has a right to prevent contraband going to the Allies
and a ship carrying contraband should not rely upon passengers
protect her from attack-it would be like putting women and children
in front of an army.1
This did not deter Wilson from his commitment. The first note
was followed by an even stronger one with threatening overtones,
which was intensely discussed at the Cabinet meeting on the first of
June. McAdoo, who was present at the meeting, says:
I remember that Bryan had little to say at this meeting; he sat
throughout the proceedings with his eyes half closed most of the time.
After the meeting he told the President, as I learned later, that he could
not sign the note .... Bryan went on to say that he thought his
usefulness as Secretary of State was over, and he proposed to resign.2
At the request of Wilson, McAdoo was dispatched to the Bryans'
to persuade the Secretary to change his mind, lest his resigna-
tIon be taken as a sign of disunity within the President's Cabinet.
Bryan agreed to think it over one more day but, the follOWing morn-
in?, his decision remained firm. In his memoirs, annotated by his
wife, Mrs. Bryan reveals that her husband could not sleep that night.
"He was so restless I suggested that he read a little till he should
become drowsy. He had in his handbag a copy of an old book
printed in 1829 and called 'A Wreath of Appreciation of Andrew
Jackson.' He found it very interesting.,,3
What irony. In chapter seventeen we shall review the total war
waged by President Jackson against the Bank of the United States,
1. Bryan, Vol II, pp. 398-9.
2. McAdoo, p. 333.
3. Bryan, Vol. II, p. 424.
SINK THE LUSITANIA! 257
the predecessor of the Federal Reserve System, and we shall be
reminded that it was Jackson who propheSIed:
Is there no danger to our liberty and independence in a bank that
in its nature has so little to bind it to our country? .. [Is there not] cause
to tremble for the purity of our elections in peace and for the
independence of our country in war? .. Controlling our
receiving our public monies, and holding thousands of our cItIzens ill
dependence, it would be more formidable and dangerous than a naval
and military power of the enemy.1
One can only wonder what thoughts went through Bryan's
mind as he recalled Jackson's warning and applied it to the artifi-
cially created war hysteria that, at that very moment, was being
generated by the financial powers on Wall Street and at the newly
created Federal Reserve.
From England, Colonel House sent a telegram to
Wilson which he, in turn, read to his Cabinet. It became the geneSIS
of thousands of newspaper editorials across the land. He said
piously:
America has come to the parting of the ways, when she must
determine whether she stands for civilized or uncivilized warfare. We
can no longer remain neutral spectators. Our action in this crisis will
determine the part we will play when peace is made, and how far we
may influence a settlement for the lasting of humanity. y!e
being weighed in the and our position amongst natIons IS
being assessed by mankind.
In another telegram two days later, House reveals himself as the
master psycho-politician playing on Wilson's ego like a violinist
stroking the strings of a Stradivarius. He wrote:
If, unhappily, it is necessary to go to war, I hope you will give the
world an exhibition of American efficiency that will be a lesson for a
century or more. It is generally believed throughout Europe that we
are so unprepared and that it would take so long to put our resources
into action, that our entering would make but little difference.
In the event of war, we should accelerate the manufacture of
munitions to such an extent that we could supply not only ourselves
but the Allies, and so quickly that the world would be astounded.
1. Herman E. Krooss, ed., Documentary History of Banking and Currency in the Unites
States (New York: Chelsea House, 1983), Vol. III, pp. 26-27.
2. Seymour, p. 434.
3. Ibid., p. 435.
258
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
Congress. could not resist the combined pressure of the press
and the PresIdent. On April 16, 1917, the United States officiall
declared war on the Axis powers. Eight days later, Congress duJ-
fully passed the War Loan Act which extended $1 billion in credit to
the Allies. The first advance of $200 million went to the British the
next day and was immediately applied as payment on the debt to
Morgan. A few days later, $100 million went to France for the same
purpose. But the drain continued. Within three months the British
had up their overdraft with Morgan to $400 million dollars, and
the fIrm presented it to the government for payment. The Treasury,
was to put its hands on that amount of money
WIthout JeopardIzmg its own spendable funds and, at first, refused
to pay. The was quickly solved, however, through a
maneuver descnbed at some length in chapter ten. The Federal
Reserve System under Benjamin Strong simply created the needed
money through the Mandrake Mechanism. "The Wilson Admini-
found itself in an extremely awkward position, having to
ball out J.P. Morgan," wrote Ferrell, but Benjamin Strong" offered to
help McAdoo out of the difficulty. Over the
f<?llowmg months m 1917-18
i
the Treasury quietly paid Morgan
pIecemeal for the overdraft." By the time the war was over, the
Treasury had. loaned a total of $9,466,000,000 including
$2,170,000,000 gIVen after the Armistice.
.That was the cash flow they had long awaited. In addition to
savmg the Morgan loans, even larger profits were to be made from
war The government had been secretly preparing for
war fo: SIX months prior to the actual declaration. According to
Franklin D. Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, the
Navy be?"an extensive purchasing of war supplies in
the Fall of 1916. Ferdmand Lundberg adds this perspective:
By no all the strategic government posts, notably those
concerned .WIth buying, were reserved for the Wall Street patriots. On
the most VItal appointments, Wilson consulted with Dodge [President
Rockefeller's National City Bank], who ... recommended the
unknown [Bernard] Baruch, speculator in copper stocks, as
chaIrman of the all-powerful War Industries Board ....
1. Ferrell, p. 89, 90.
2. Clarence W. Barron, They Told Barron; Notes of Clarence Walker Barron edited
by Arthur Pound and Samuel Taylor Moore (New York: Harper and B;others
1930), p. 51. '
SINK THE LUSITANIA! 259
As head of the War Industries Board, Baruch spent government
funds at the rate of $10,000,000,000 annually .... Baruch packed the War
Industries Board and its committees with past and future Wall Street
manipulators, industrialists, financiers, and their agents ... who fixed
prices on a cost-plus basis and, as subsequent investigations revealed,
saw to it that costs were grossly padded so as to yield hidden profits ....
The American soldiers fighting in the trenches, the people
working at home, the entire nation under arms, were fighting, not only
to subdue Gennany, but to subdue themselves. That there is nothing
metaphysical about this interpretation becomes clear when we
observe that the total wartime expenditure of the United States
government from April 6, 1917, to October 31, 1919, when the last
contingent of troops returned from Europe, was $35,413,000,000. Net
corporation profits for the period January 1, 1916, to July, 1921, when
wartime industrial activity was finally liquidated, were
$38,000,000,000, or approximately the amount of the war
expenditures. More than two-thirds of these corporation profits were
taken by precisely those enterprises which the Pujo Committee had
found to be under the control of the "Money Trust."l
The banking cartel was able, through the operation of the
Federal Reserve System, to create the money to give to England and
France so they, in turn, could pay back the American banks-
exactly as was to be done again in World War II and again in the Big
Bailout of the 1980s and '90s. It is true that, in 1917, the recently en-
acted income tax was useful for raising a sizable amount of revenue
to conduct the war and also, as Beardsley Ruml pointed out a few
years later, to take purchasing power away from the middle class.
But the greatest source of funding came, as it always does in war-
time, not from direct taxes, but from the hidden tax called inflation.
Between 1915 and 1920, the money supply doubled from $20.6 bil-
lion to $39.8 billion.
2
Conversely, during World War I, the purchas-
ing power of the currency fell by almost 50%. That means
Americans unknowingly paid to the government approximately
one-half of every dollar that existed. And that was in addition to their
taxes. This massive infusion of money was the product of the
Mandrake Mechanism and cost nothing to create. Yet, the banks
were able to collect interest on it all. The ancient partnership
1. Lundberg, pp. 134, 144-45.
2. "Deposits and Currency-Adjusted Deposits of All Banks and Currency Out-
side Banks, 1892-1941," Banking and Monetary Statistics, 1914-1942 (Washington,
D.C.: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 1976), p. 34.
260 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
between the political and monetary scientists had performed its
mission well.
SUMMARY
To finance the early stages of World War I, England and France
had borrowed heavily from investors in America and had selected
the House of Morgan as sales agent for their bonds. Morgan also
acted as their U.S. purchasing agent for war materials, thus profit-
ing from both ends of the cash flow: once when the money was bor-
rowed and again when it was spent. Further profits were derived
from production contracts placed with companies within the
Morgan orbit. But the war began to go badly for the Allies when
Germany's submarines took virtual control of the Atlantic shipping
lanes. As England and France moved closer to defeat or a negotiated
peace on Germany's terms, it became increasingly difficult to sell
their bonds. No bonds meant no purchases, and the Morgan cash
flow was threatened. Furthermore, if the previously sold bonds
should go into default, as they certainly would in the wake of
defeat, the Morgan consortium would suffer gigantic losses.
The only way to save the British Empire, to restore the value of
the bonds, and to sustain the Morgan cash flow was for the United
States government to provide the money. But, since neutral nations
were prohibited from doing that by treaty, America would have to
be brought into the war. A secret agreement to that effect was made
between British officials and Colonel House, with the concurrence
of the President. From that point forward, Wilson began to pressure
Congress for a declaration of war. This was done at the very time he
was campaigning for reelection on the slogan "He kept us out of
war." Meanwhile, Morgan purchased control over major segments
of the news media and engineered a nation-wide editorial blitz
against Germany, calling for war as an act of American patriotism.
Morgan had created an international shipping cartel, including
Germany's merchant fleet, which maintained a near monopoly on
the high seas. Only the British Cunard Lines remained aloof. The
Lusitania was owned by Cunard and operated in competition with
Morgan's cartel. The Lusitania was built to military specifications
and was registered with the British Admiralty as an armed auxiliary
cruiser. She carried passengers as a cover to conceal her real mis-
sion, which was to bring contraband war materials from the United
States. This fact was known to Wilson and others in his administra-
SINK THE LUSITANIA!
261
. but the did nothing to stop it. When the German embassy
to a warning to American passengers,
trl rtment intervened and prevented newspapers from pnnting It.
the Lusitania left New Y harbor on her final voyage, she
. 11 fl ting ammurution depot.
was that to draw the United into the war
uld
the
difference between defeat and VIctory, and any-
wo mean ldl al
thin that could accomplish that was the co y c cu-
sacrifice of one of her great ships WIth Enghshmen aboard. But
the trick was to have Americans on board also in order to
oti
· onal climate in the United States. As the LUSltama
proper em kn t
moved into hostile waters, where a German was own. 0
b operating First Lord of the Admiralty, Wmston ChurchIll,
e , . b d h r This plus the fact
d red her destroyer protection to a an on e. ,
or e 1 ed ed peed made her an
that she had been ordered to trave at r uc s, . ht
t t
After the impact of one well placed torpedo, a mIg y
easy arge. d th hi that
second explosion from within ripped her apart, an s p
many believed could not be sunk, gurgled to the bottom m less than
eighteen minutes. f
The deed had been done, and it set in motion great waves 0
I
. aI·nst the Germans These waves eventually flooded
revu SlOn ag . .. hi
thr h Washington and swept the United States mto war. WIt n
the declaration, Congress voted $1 billion
England and France. $200 million was sent to England y
and was applied to the Morgan account. The vast quantity of money
needed to finance the war was created by the Federal Reserve
S t m
which means it was collected from Americans through that
ys e , ... thi t had taken
hidden tax called inflation. Within Just five years, s .
fully one-half of all they had saved. The infinitely higher cost m
Amen
·can blood was added to the bill. 1·
f
h di e persona 1-
Thus it was that the separate motives 0 suc vers
ties as Winston Churchill, J.P. Morgan,
Woodrow Wilson all found common cause in brmgmg Amenca mto
World War I. Churchill maneuvered for military
Morgan sought the profits of war, House for pohtical
power, and Wilson dreamed of a chance to dommate a post-war
League of Nations.
The German
Embassy attempted
to place ads in 50
newspapers waming
that the Lusitania was
a target of war, but
the U.S. government
prevented them from
being printed except
for this one which
was run in the
Des Moines Register.
When the ship was
sunk off the coast of
Ireland with 195
Americans aboard, it
became the center of
a national campaign
to generate emotional
support for coming
into the war.
Chapter Thirteen
MASQUERADE
IN MOSCOW
The secret society founded by Cecil Rhodes for the
purpose of world dominion; the establishment in
America of a branch of that group called the
Council on Foreign Relations; the role played by
financiers representing both of these groups in
financing the Russian revolution; the use of the
Red Cross mission in Moscow as a cover for that
maneuver.
One of the greatest myths of contemporary history is that the
Bolshevik Revolution in Russia was a popular uprising of the
downtrodden masses against the hated ruling class of the Tsars. As
we shall see, however, the planning, the leadership, and especially
the financing came entirely from outside Russia, mostly from
financiers in Germany, Britain, and the United States. Furthermore,
we shall see that the Rothschild Formula played a major role in
shaping these events.
This amazing story begins with the war between Russia and
Japan in 1904. Jacob Schiff, who was head of the New York
investment firm of Kuhn, Loeb, and Company, had raised the
capital for large war loans to Japan. It was due to this funding that
the Japanese were able to launch a stunning attack against the
Russians at Port Arthur and, the following year, to Virtually
decimate the Russian fleet. In 1905, the Mikado awarded Jacob
Schiff a medal, the Second Order of the Treasure of Japan, in
recognition of his important role in that campaign.
During the two years of hostilities, thousands of Russian
soldiers and sailors were taken as prisoners. Schiff paid for the
printing of one-and-a-half tons of Marxist propaganda and had it
delivered to the prison camps. He also sent scores of Russian-
speaking revolutionaries, trained in New York, to distribute the
264
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
pamphlets among the prisoners and to indoctrinate them into
rebellion against their own government. When the war was ended
50,000 officers and enlisted men returned home to become virtual
seeds of treason against the Tsar. They were to playa major role a
few later in creating mutiny among the military during the
Commurust takeover of Russia.
TROTSKY WAS SCHIFF'S AGENT
One of the best known Russian revolutionaries at that time was
Leon Trotsky. In January of 1916, Trotsky was expelled from France
and came to the United States at the invitation of Schiff. His travel
expenses aboard the Monserrat were paid by his host. He remained
for months while writing for a Russian socialist paper, the
Novy.Mzr .(New World), and giving revolutionary speeches at mass
meeh.ngs In New York City. According to Trotsky himself, on many
a chauffeured limousine was placed at the service of his
famIly by a wealthy friend identified as Dr. M. In his book, My Life
Trotsky wrote: '
doctor's wife took my wife and the boys out driving and was
very kind to them. But she was a mere mortal, whereas the chauffeur
was a magician, a titan, a superman! With the wave of his hand he
made the machine obey his slightest command. To sit beside him
the delight. When they went into a tea-room, the boys would
demand of their mother, "Why doesn't the chauffeur come
m.
.It .must been a curious sight to see the family of
defender of the working class, enemy of capital-
Ism, enJoYIng of tea rooms and chauffeurs, the very
symbols of capItalIst luxury. In any event, it is now known that
almost all of his expenses in New York, including the mass rallies
were paid for by Jacob Schiff. '
On March a mass meeting was held at Carnegie Hall to
celebrate the abdication of Nicholas II, which meant the overthrow
of Tsarist n:le in Russia. Thousands of socialists, Marxists, nihilists,
and anarchists attended to cheer the event. The following day there
was page two of the New York Times, a telegram from
Jacob Schiff which had been read to this audience. He expressed
regrets that he could not attend and then described the successful
1. Leon Trotsky, My Life (New York: Scribner'S, 1930), p. 277.
MASQUERADE IN MOSCOW 265
Russian revolution as " ... what we had hoped and striven for these
,,1
long years.
In the February 3,1949, issue of the New York Journal American,
Schiff's grandson, John, was quoted by columnist Cholly Knicker-
bocker as saying that his grandfather had given about $20 million
for the triumph of Communism in Russia.
When Trotsky returned to Petrograd in May of 1917 to organize
the Bolshevik phase of the Russian Revolution, he carried $10,000
for travel expenses, a generously ample fund considering the value
of the dollar at that time. The amount is known with certainty
because Trotsky was arrested by Canadian and British naval
personnel when the ship on which he was travelling, the 5.5.
Kristianiafjord, put in at Halifax. The money in his possession is now
a matter of official record. Because Trotsky was a known enemy of
the Tsar and because Germany was then at war with Russia, it was
assumed that the $10,000 was German money given to him in New
York The evidence, however, is that this, too, came from Kuhn,
2
Loeb and Company.
Trotsky was not arrested on a whim. He was recognized as a
threat to the best interests of England, Canada's mother country in
the British Commonwealth. Russia was an ally of England in the
First World War which then was raging in Europe. Anything that
would weaken Russia-and that certainly included internal revolu-
tion-would be, in effect, to strengthen Germany and weaken
England. In New York, on the night before his departure, Trotsky
had given a speech in which he said: "1 am going hack to Russia to
overthrow the provisional government and stop the war with
Germany.,,3 Trotsky, therefore, represented a real threat to
England's war effort. He was arrested as a German agent and taken
as a prisoner of war.
With this in mind, we can appreciate the great strength of those
mysterious forces, both in England and the United States, that
intervened on Trotsky's behalf. Immediately, telegrams began to
come into Halifax from such divergent sources as an obscure
1. "Mayor Calls Pacifists Traitors," The New York Times, March 24,1917, p. 2.
2. See Anthony C. Sutton, Ph.D., Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution (New
ROChelle, New York: Arlington House, 1974), pp. 21-24.
3. A full report on this meeting had been submitted to the U.S. Military Intelli-
gence. See Senate Document No. 62, 66th Congress, Report and Hearings of the
Subcommittee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 1919, Vol. II, p. 2680.
266
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
attorney in New York City, from the Canadian Deputy Postmaster-
even from a high-ranking British military officer, aU
InquIrIng Into Trotsky's situation and urging his immediate release.
The head of the British Secret Service in America at the time was S.
William Wiseman who, as fate would have it, occupied th:
apartment directly above the apartment of Edward Mandell House
who had become fast friends with him. House advised
that President Wilson wished to have Trotsky released
WIseman advised his government, and the British Admiral '
issued orders on April 21st that Trotsky was to be sent on his
It was a fateful decision that would affect, not only the outcome of
war, but the future of the entire world.
SCHIFF WAS NOT ALONE
It would be a mistake to conclude that Jacob Schiff acted alone
in this drama. Trotsky could not have gone even as far as Halifax
without .having been granted an American passport, and this was
accomplIshed by the personal intervention of President Wilson.
Professor Anthony Sutton says:
Woodrow Wilson was the fairy godmother who
provIde?, Trotsky a passport to return to Russia to "carry
forward the revolutIon .... At the same time careful State Department
concerned about such revolutionaries entering Russia,
were unilaterally attempting to tighten up passport procedures.2
there were others, as well. In 1911, the St. Louis Dispatch
published a cartoon by a Bolshevik named Robert Minor. Minor
was to be arrested in Tsarist Russia for revolutionary activities
and, In fact, was himself bankrolled by famous Wall Street finan-
ciers. we may safely assume that he knew his topic well, his
ca.rtoon IS of great historical importance. It portrays Karl Marx,
WIth a book entitled Socialism under his arm standing amid a
on Wall Street. Gathered around and greeting him
WIth enthUSIastic handshakes are characters in silk hats identified
as John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, John D. Ryan of National City
Bank, Morgan partner George W. Perkins, and Teddy Roosevelt,
leader of the Progressive Party.
1. Did We Let Go? How Canada Lost an Opportunity to Shorten
the War, MacLeans magazme, Canada, June, 1919. Also see Martin pp 163-64
2. Sutton, Revolution, p. 25. ,. .
MASQUERADE IN MOSCOW 267
What emerges from this sampling of events is a clear pattern of
strong support for Bolshevism coming from the highest financial
and political power centers in the United from men
upposedly, were "capitalists" and who, accordIng to conventional
should have been the mortal enemies of socialism and
communism.
Nor was this phenomenon confined to the United States.
Trotsky, in his book, My Life, tells of a British financier who, in 1907,
gave him a "large to be after the overthr.ow of the
Tsar. Arsene de Gouievitch, who WItnessed the BolsheVIk Revolu-
tion first hand, has identified both the name of the financier and the
amount of the loan. "In private interviews," he said, "1 have been
told that over 21 million roubles were spent by Lord [Alfred]
Milner in financing the Russian Revolution .... The financier just
mentioned was by no means alone among the British to support the
Russian revolution with large financial donations." Another name
specifically mentioned by de Goulevitch was that of Sir George
Buchanan, the British Ambassador to Russia at the time.
1
It was one thing for Americans to undermine Tsarist Russia
and, thus, indirectly help Germany in the war, because Americans
were not then into it, but for British citizens to do so was
tantamount to treason. To understand what higher loyalty com-
pelled these men to betray their battlefield ally and to the
blood of their own countrymen, we must take a look at the uruque
organization to which they belonged.
THE SECRET SOCIETY
Lord Alfred Milner was a key figure in organizing a secret
SOCiety which, at the time of these events, was about sixteen years
old. It was dedicated to nothing less than the quiet domination of
the world. The conquest of Russia was seen as but the first phase of
that plan. Since the organization is still in existence today and
continues to make progress toward its goal, it is important to have
its history included in this narrative.
One of the most authoritative reference works on the history of
this group is Tragedy and Hope by Dr. Carroll Quigley. Dr. Quigley
Was a professor of history at Georgetown University where PreSI-
dent Clinton had been one of his students. He was the author of the
1. See Arsene de Goulevitch, Czarism and Revolution (Hawthorne, California: Omni
Publications, n.d., rpt. from 1962 French edition), pp. 224, 230.
268
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
widely used textbook, Evolution of Civilization; he was a member of
the editorial board of the monthly periodical, Current History; and
he was. a frequent lecturer and consultant for such groups as the
Industrial College of the Armed Forces, the Brookings Institution
the .U.S. Weapons Laboratory, the Naval College, the
soruan InstItu.te, and the State Department. But Dr. Quigley was no
mere also had been closely associated with many of
the fanuly dynasties of the super-rich. He was, by his own boast an
insider with a front row view of the world's money po:v.er
structure.
When Dr. QUigley wrote his scholarly, 1300-page book of dry
it was .not intended for the masses. It was to be read by the
mtellectual elIte, and to that select readership he cautiously
exposed one of the best-kept secrets of aU time. He also made it
clear, however, that he was a friendly apologist for this group and
that he supported its goals and purposes. Dr. Quigley said:
I know of the operation of this network because I have studied it
for years and Was permitted for two years, in the 1960s, to
examme Its papers and secret records. I have no aversion to it or to
most of its aims and have, for much of my life, been close to it and to
many of.its instruments .. .. In general, my chief difference of opinion is
that It WIshes to remain unknown.
1
As mentioned, Quigley's book was intended for an elite reader-
ship of scholars and network insiders. But, unexpect-
It began to be quoted in the journals of the John Birch SOciety,
had perceived that his work provided a valuable
mSIght to the Inner workings of a hidden power structure. That
exposure triggered a large demand for the book by people who
were opposed to the network and curious to see what an insider had
to say about it. .That was not according to the original plan. What
happened next IS best described by QUigley, himself. In a personal
letter dated December 9, 1975, he wrote:
Thank you for your praise of Tragedy and Hope, a book which has
brought me headaches as it apparently says something which
people do not want known. My publisher stopped selling it
m 1968 and told me he would reprint (but in 1971 he told my lawyer
that they had destroyed the plates in 1968). The rare-book price went
1. Quigley, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time (New York:
MacMIllan, 1966), p. 950. '
MASQUERADE IN MOSCOW 269
up to $135 and parts were in of copyright, but I
could do nothing because I beheved the pubhsher, and he would not
take action even when a pirate copy of the book appeared. Only when
I hired a lawyer in 1974 did I get any answers to my questions ... .
In another personal letter, Quigley commented further on the
duplicity of his publisher:
They lied to me for six years, telling me that they would reprint
when they got 2,000 orders, which could never happen because they
told anyone who asked that it was out of print and would be
reprinted. They denied this to me until I them Xerox, COpIes of
such replies in libraries, at which they told me It was a clerk s In
other words, they lied to me but prevented me from regammg
publication ... . I am now quite sure that Tragedy and Hope was
suppressed ....
To understand why "powerful people" would want to suppress
this book, note carefully what follows. Dr. Quigley describes the
goal of this network of world financiers as:
.. . nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in
private hands able to dominate the political system of each country
and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be
controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world
acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private
meetings and conferences ....
Each central bank, in the hands of men like Montagu Norman
of the Bank of England, Benjamin Strong of the New York Federal
Reserve Bank, Charles Rist of the Bank of France, and Hjalmar
Schacht of the Reichsbank, sought to dominate its government by
its ability to control treasury loans, to
exchanges, to influence the level of econonuc actiVity ill the
country, and to influence cooperative foliticians by subsequent
economic rewards in the business world.
1. These letters were first published in the Summer, 1976, issue ?f
Digest published by Peter McAlpine (Alpine Press, Dearborn, MIchigan). The
cannot now be located. author was to the
attorney, Mr. Paul Wolff (with the fum of Connolly .m Washington,
D.C.) who represented Quigley in his legal actIon agamst the publIsher. Mr.
cannot vouch for the authenticity of the letters but.has confirmed m
phone conversations and later in writing that the essentIal detaIls are correct. He
writes: "It is my recollection that withheld from and the Erofessor for some
time the information that they had m fact destroyed the plates.
2. Quigley, Tragedy, p. 324.
270 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
That is the information that "powerful people" do not want the
common man to know.
Notice that Quigley refers to this group as a "network." That is
a precise choice of words, and it is important to an understanding
of the forces of international finance. The network to which he
refers is not the secret society. It is no doubt directed by it, and there
are society members in key positions within the network, but we
can be sure that there are many in the network who have little or no
knowledge of hidden control. To explain how this can be possible,
let us turn to the origin and growth of the secret society itself.
RUSKIN, RHODES, AND MILNER
In 1870, a wealthy British socialist by the name of John Ruskin
was appointed as professor of fine arts at Oxford University in
London. He tjught that the state must take control of the means of
production and organize them for the good of the community as a
whole. He advocated placing control of the state into the hands of a
small ruling class, perhaps even a single dictator. He said: "My
continual aim has been to show the eternal of some men
to others, sometimes even of one man to all others."l
This, of course, is the same intellectual appeal of Communism.
Lenin taught that the masses could not be trusted to handle their
own affairs and that a special group of disciplined intellectuals
must assume this role for them. That is the function of the
Communist Party, which never comprises more than about three
per cent of the population. Even when the charade of free elections
is allowed, only members of the Party-or those over whom the
KGB has total control-are permitted to run for office. The concept
that a ruling party or class is the ideal structure for society is at the
heart of all collectivist schemes, regardless of whether they are
called Socialism, Communism, Nazism, Fascism, or any other
"ism" which may yet be invented to disguise it. It is easy, therefore,
for adherents of this elitist mentality to be comfortable in almost
any of these collectivist camps, a fact to which Dr. Quigley alluded
when he wrote: "This network, which we may identify as the
Round Table Groups, has no aversion to cooperating with the
Communists, or any other groups, and frequently does so.,,2
1. See Kenneth Clark, Ruskin Today (New York: Holt, Reinhart & Winston, 1964),
p. 267.
2. Quigley, Tragedy, p. 950.
MASQUERADE IN MOSCOW
271
Returning to the subject of the origins of this group, however,
Dr. Quigley tells us:
Ruskin spoke to the Oxford undergraduates as members of the
privileged ruling class. He told them that they were the possessors of
a magnificent tradition of education, beauty, rule of law, freedom,
decency, and self-discipline, but that this tradition could not be saved,
and did not deserve to be saved, unless it could be extended to the
lower classes in England itself and to the non-English masses
throughout the world.
Ruskin's message had a sensational impact. His inaugural lecture
was copied out in long-hand by one undergraduate, Cecil Rhodes,
who kept it with him for thirty years.
1
Cecil Rhodes made one of the world's greatest fortunes. With
the cooperation of the Bank of England and financiers like
Rothschild, he was able to establish a virtual monopoly over the
diamond output of South Africa and most of the gold as well. The
major portion of this vast income was spent to advance the
ruling-class ideas of John Ruskin.
Dr. Quigley explains:
The Rhodes Scholarships, established by the terms of Cecil
Rhodes' seventh will, are known to everyone. What is not so widely
known is that Rhodes in five previous wills left his fortune to form a
secret society, which was to devote itself to the preservation and
expansion of the British Empire. And what does not seem to be known
to anyone is that this secret society was created by Rhodes and his
principal trustee, Lord Milner, and continues to exist to this day .... In
his book on Rhodes' wills, he [Stead, who was a member of the inner
circle] wrote in one place: "Mr. Rhodes was more than the founder of
a dynasty. He aspired to be the creator of one of those vast
semi-religious, quasi-political associations which, like the Society of
Jesus, have played so large a part in the history of the world. To be
more strictly accurate, he wished to found an Order as the instrument
of the will of the Dynasty.2 ...
In this secret society Rhodes was to be leader; Stead, Brett (Lord
Esher), and Milner were to form an executive committee; Arthur
(Lord) Balfour, (Sir) Harry Johnston, Lord Rothschild, Albert (Lord)
Grey, and others were listed as potential members of a "Circle of
Initiates;" while there was to be an outer circle known as the
L Quigley, Tragedy, p. 130.
2. Carroll Quigley, The Anglo-American Establishment: From Rhodes to Cliveden (New
York: Books in Focus, 1981), pp. ix, 36.
272 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
"Association of Helpers" (later organized by Milner as the Round
Table organization).
THE PATTERN OF CONSPIRACY
Here, then, was the classical pattern of political conspiracy. This
was the structure that made it possible for Quigley to differentiate
between an international"network" and the secret society within
that network. At the center, there is always a tiny group in
complete controt with one man as the undisputed leader. Next is a
circle of secondary leadership that, for the most part, is unaware of
an inner core. They are led to believe that they are the inner-most
ring.
In time, as these conspiracies are built from the center out, they
form additional rings of organization. Those in the outer echelons
usually are idealists with an honest desire to improve the world.
They never suspect an inner control for other purposes, and only
those few who demonstrate a ruthless capacity for higher leader-
ship are ever allowed to see it.
After the death of Cecil Rhodes, the inner core of his secret
society fell under the control of Lord Alfred Milner, Governor-
General and High Commissioner of South Africa. As director of a
number of public banks and as corporate precursor of England's
Midland Bank, he became one of the greatest political and financial
powers in the world. Milner recruited into his secret society a
group of young men chiefly from Oxford and Toynbee Hall and,
according to Quigley:
Through his influence these men were able to win influential posts
in government and international finance and became the dominant
influence in British imperial and foreign affairs up to 1939.... In
1909-1913 they organized semi-secret groups, known as Round Table
Groups, in the chief British dependencies and the United States ....
Money for the widely ramified activities of this organization came
... chiefly from the Rhodes Trust itself, and from wealthy associates
such as the Beit brothers, from Sir Abe Bailey, and (after 1915) from the
Astor family ... and from foundations and firms associated with the
international banking fraternity, especially the Carnegie United
Kingdom Trust, and other organizations associated with J.P. Morgan,
the Rockefeller and Whitney families, and the associates of Lazard
Brothers and of Morgan, Grenfell, and Company ....
1. Quigley, Tragedy, p. 131.
•
MASQUERADE IN MOSCOW 273
At the end of the war of 1914, it became clear that the organization
of this system had to be greatly extended. Once again the task was
entrusted to Lionel Curtis who established, in England and each
dominion, a front organization to the existing local Round Table
Group. This front organization, called the Royal Institute of
International Affairs, had as its nucleus in each area the existing
submerged Round Table Group. In New York it was known as the
Council on Foreign Relations, and was a front for J.P. Morgan and
Company in association with the very small American Round Table
Group.
1
The Council on Foreign Relations was a spin-off from the
failure of the world's leaders at the end of World War I to embrace
the League of Nations as a true world government. It became clear
to the master planners that they had been unrealistic in their
expectations for rapid acceptance. If their plan were to be carried
forward, it would have to be done on the basis of patient gradual-
ism symbolized by the Fabian turtle. Rose Martin says:
Colonel House was only one man, where a multitude was needed.
He had set the pattern and outlined goals for the future, and he still
had a scheme or two in mind. In particular, he foresaw it would be
necessary for the Fabians to develop a top level Anglo-American
planning group in the field of foreign relations which could secretly
influence policy on the one hand and gradually "educate" public
opinion on the other ....
To the ambitious young Fabians, British and American, who had
flocked to the peace conference as economists and junior officials, it
soon became evident that a New World Order was not about to be
produced at Paris.... For them, Colonel House arranged a dinner
meeting at the Hotel Majestic on May 19, 1919, together with a select
group of Fabian-certified Englishmen-notably, Arnold Toynbee,
R.H. Tawney and John Maynard Keynes. All were equally
disillusioned, for various reasons, by the consequences of the peace.
They made a gentlemen's agreement to set up an organization, with
branches in England and America, "to facilitate the scientific study of
international questions." As a result two potent and closely related
opinion-making bodies were founded.... The English branch was
called the Royal Institute of International Affairs. The American
branch, first known as the Institute of International Affairs, was
reorganized in 1921 as the Council on Foreign Relations.
2
1. Quigley, Tragedy, pp. 132, 951-52.
2. Martin, pp. 174-5.
274 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
It is through this front group, called the Council on Foreign
Relations, and its influence over the media, tax-exempt founda-
tions, universities, and government agencies that the international
financiers have been able to dominate the domestic and foreign
policies of the United States ever since.
We shall have more to say about the CFR, but our focal point
for now is Great Britain and, in particular, the help given to
Communism in Russia by Lord Alfred Milner and his web of secret
societies.
ROUND TABLE AGENTS IN RUSSIA
In Russia, prior to and during the revolution, there were many
local observers, tourists, and newsmen who reported that British
and American agents were everywhere, particularly in Petrograd,
providing money for insurrection. One report said, for example,
that British agents were seen handing out 25-rouble notes to the
men at the Pavlovski regiment just a few hours before it mutinied
against its officers and sided with the revolution. The subsequent
publication of various memoirs and documents made it clear that
this funding was provided by Milner and channeled through Sir
George Buchanan who was the British Ambassador to Russia at
that time.
1
It was a repeat of the ploy that had worked so well for
the cabal many times in the past. Round Table members were once
again working both sides of the conflict to weaken and topple a
target government. Tsar Nicholas had every reason to believe that,
since the British were Russia's allies in the war against Germany,
British officials would be the last persons on Earth to conspire
against him. Yet, the British Ambassador himself represented the
hidden group which was financing the regime's downfall.
The Round Table agents from America did not have the
advantage of using the diplomatic service as a cover and, therefore,
had to be considerably more ingenious. They came, not as diplo-
mats or even as interested businessmen, but disguised as Red Cross
officials on a humanitarian mission. The group consisted almost
entirely of financiers, lawyers, and accountants from New York
banks and investment houses. They simply had overpowered the
American Red Cross organization with large contributions and, in
1. See de Goulevitch, p. 230.
J
MASQUERADE IN MOSCOW
275
effect, purchased a franchise to operate in its name. Professor
Sutton tells us:
The 1910 [Red Cross] fund-raising campaign for $2 million, for
example, was successful only because it was supported by these
wealthy residents of New York City. J.P. Morgan himself contributed
$100,000 .... Henry P. Davison [a Morgan partner] was chairman ofthe
1910 New York Fund-Raising Committee and later became chairman
of the War Council of the American Red Cross .... The Red Cross was
unable to cope with the demands of World War I and in effect was
taken over by these New York bankers.
1
For the duration of the war, the Red Cross had been made,
nominally, a part of the armed forces and subject to orders from the
proper military authorities. It was not clear who these authorities
were and, in fact, there were never any orders, but the arrangement
made it possible for the participants to receive military commis-
sions and wear the uniform of American army officers. The entire
expense of the Red Cross Mission in Russia, including the purchase
of uniforms, was paid for by the man who was appointed by
President Wilson to become its head, "Colonel" William Boyce
Thompson.
Thompson was a classical specimen of the Round Table net-
work. Having begun his career as a speculator in copper mines, he
soon moved into the world of high finance. He refinanced the
American Woolen Company and the Tobacco Products Company;
launched the Cuban Cane Sugar Company; purchased controlling
interest in the Pierce Arrow Motor Car Company; organized the
Submarine Boat Corporation and the Wright-Martin Aeroplane
Company; became a director of the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific
Railway, the Magma Arizona Railroad, and the Metropolitan Life
Insurance Company; was one of the heaviest stockholders in the
Chase National Bank; was the agent for J.P. Morgan's British
securities operation; became the first full-time director of the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the most important bank in the
Federal Reserve System; and, of course, contributed a quarter-
million dollars to the Red Cross.
When Thompson arrived in Russia, he made it clear that he was
not your typical Red Cross representative. According to Hermann
Hagedorn, Thompson's biographer:
1. Sutton, Revolution, p. 72.
276 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
He deliberately created the kind of setting which would be
expected of an American magnate: established himself in a suite in the
Hotel de I'Europe, bought a French limousine, went dutifully to
receptions and teas and evinced an interest in objects of art. Society
and the diplomats, noting that here was a man of parts and power,
began to flock about him. He was entertained at the embassies, at the
houses of Kerensky's ministers. It was discovered that he was a
collector, and those with antiques to sell fluttered around him, offering
him miniatures, Dresden china, tapestries, even a palace or two.
1
When Thompson attended the opera, he was given the imperial
box. People on the street called him the American Tsar. And it is
not surprising that, according to George Kennan, "He was viewed
by the Kerensky authorities as the 'real' ambassador of the United
States.,,2
It is now a matter of record that Thompson syndicated the
purchase on Wall 'Street of Russian bonds in the amount of
ten-million roubles.
3
In addition, he gave over two-million roubles
to Aleksandr Kerensky for propaganda purposes inside Russia
and, with J.P. Morgan, gave the rouble equivalent of one-million
dollars to the Bolsheviks for the spreading of revolutionary propa-
ganda outside of Russia, particularly in Germany and Austria. A
photograph of the cablegram from Morgan to Thompson advising
that the money had been transferred to the National City Bank
branch in Petrograd is included in this book.
AN OBJECT LESSON IN SOUTH AFRICA
At first it may seem incongruous that the Morgan group would
provide funding for both Kerensky and Lenin. These men may
have both been socialist revolutionaries, but they were miles apart
in their plans for the future and, in fact, were bitter competitors for
control of the new government. But the tactic of funding both sides
in a political contest by then had been refined by members of the
1. Hermann Hagedorn, The Magnate: William Boyce Thompson and His Time (New
York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1935), pp. 192-93.
2. George F. Kennan, Russia Leaves the War: Soviet-American Relations 1917-1920
(Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1956), p. 60. '
3. Hagedorn, p. 192.
4. Sutton, Revolution, pp. 83, 91. It was the agitation made pOSSible by this funding
that led to the abortive German Sparticus Revolt of 1918. See "W.B. Thompson, Red
Cross Donor, Believes Party Misrepresented," Washington Post, Feb. 2, 1918.
•
l
\
•
J
•
•
MASQUERADE IN MOSCOW 277
Round Table into a fine art. A stunning example of this occurred in
South Africa during the outset of Boer War in 1899.
The British and Dutch had been active in the settlement of
Southern Africa for decades. The Dutch had developed the prov-
inces of Transvaal and the Orange Free State, while the British had
colonized such areas as Rhodesia, Cape Hope, Basutoland,
Swaziland, and Bechuanaland. Conflict was inevitable between
these two groups of settlers whenever they found themselves in
competition for the resources of the same territory, but it was the
discovery of gold in the Whitewater area of the Transvaal that
provided the motive for war.
Politically, the Transvaal was in the hands of the Boers, who
were the descendants of the Dutch settlers. But, after the discovery
of gold in that area, the mine fields had been developed primarily
by the British and became solidly under their control. Not surpris-
ingly, one of the largest players in that game was Cecil Rhodes who
already had monopolized the diamond fields under British control
to the South. Historian Henry Pike tells us:
With the discovery of gold in the Transvaal, Rhodes' greed
became passionate. His hatred of Paul Kruger, the Afrikaner President
of the Transvaal, knew no limits. He was bitterly opposed to Kruger's
independent Transvaal, and viewed this as the main obstacle to his
efforts to sweep all Southern Africa under British rule.
1
In 1895, Rhodes set in motion a plan to overthrow Kruger's
government by organizing an uprising among the British inhabi-
tants in Johannesburg. The uprising was financed by himself and
was to be led by his brother, Frank, and other loyal supporters. This
was to be followed by a military invasion of the Transvaal by
British troops from Bechuanaland and Rhodesia led by Sir Leander
Jameson. The uprising fizzled and ended in Jameson's arrest and
public disgrace.
But Rhodes was determined to have the Transvaal, and began
immediately to prepare a second, more patient ploy. Through
Rhodes' influence, Lord Alfred Milner was appointed as the British
High Commissioner of South Africa. In London, Lord Esher-
another member of the secret society-became the chief political
adviser to King Edward and was in daily contact with him
1. Henry R. Pike, Ph.D., A History of Communism in South Africa (Germlston, South
Africa: Christian Mission International of South Africa, 1985), p. 39.
278 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
throughout this period. That took care of the British side of this
contest. With regard to the Boers' side, Professor Quigley tells the
amazing story:
By a process whose details are still obscure, a brilliant you..""1g
graduate of Cambridge, Jan Smuts, who had been a vigorous
supporter of Rhodes and acted as his agent in Kimberly [South
Africa's largest diamond mine] as late as 1895 and who was one of the
most important members of the Rhodes-Milner group in the period
1908-1950, went to the Transvaal and, by violent anti-British agitation,
became state secretary of that country (although a British subject) and
chief political adviser to President Kruger; Milner made provocative
troop movements on the Boer frontiers in spite of the vigorous protests
of his commanding general in South Africa, who had to be removed;
and, finally, war was precipitated when Smuts drew up an ultimatum
insisting that the British troop movements cease and when this was
rejected by Milner.1
And so, as a result of careful engineering by Round Table
members on both sides-one making outrageous demands and the
other responding to those demands in pretended indignation-the
war finally began with a British invasion in October of 1899. After
2 1;2 years of fierce fighting, the Boers were forced to surrender, and
Milner administered the former republic as a militarily occupied
territory. Round Table members, known to the public as "Milner's
Kindergarten," were placed into all key government posts, and the
gold fields were finally secured. •
PLACING BETS ON ALL HORSES
On the other side of the world, in New York City, the same
tactic of playing both sides against each other was being applied
with brilliant precision by Round Table member J.P. Morgan.
Professor Quigley tells us:
To Morgan all political parties were simply organizations to be
used, and the firm always was careful to keep a foot in all camps.
Morgan himself, Dwight Morrow, and other partners were allied with
Republicans; Russell C. Leffingwell was allied with the Democrats;
Grayson Murphy was allied with the extreme Right; and Thomas W.
Lamont was allied with the Left.
2
1. Quigley, Tragedy, pp. 137-38.
2. Ibid., p. 945.
MASQUERADE IN MOSCOW 279
Although it is true that Thomas Lamont was the father of
Corliss Lamont, a well-known Communist, and was himself widely
regarded as a man of leftist persuasions, it must also be remem-
bered that he felt equally at home among the Fascists and, in fact,
served as an unofficial business consultant for Mussolini in the
1920s.
1
At the same time that Morgan was funding pro-Bolshevik
groups, he founded what was probably the most virulent anti-
Bolshevik organization ever to exist in America. It was called
United Americans and it set about to frighten everyone into
believing that a Red mob was at that very moment poised to
capture New York City. It issued shocking reports warning about a
pending financial collapse, widespread starvation, and a desperate
working class being maneuvered into accepting Communist slo-
gans and rhetoric as a last resort. Ironically, the officers of this
organization were Allen Walker of the Guarantee Trust Company,
which was then acting as the Soviet's fiscal agent in the U.S.; Daniel
Willard, president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, which was
then active in the development of Soviet railways; H.H. Westing-
house of Westinghouse Air Brake Company which was then
operating a major plant in Russia; and Otto H. Kahn of Kuhn, Loeb
& Company, which was one of the principal financial backers of the
fledgling Soviet regime?
Even inside Russia itself, the Round Table was spreading its
bets. In addition to the funding, previously mentioned, which was
given to the Bolsheviks and to their opponents, the Mensheviks,
Morgan also financed the military forces of Admiral Kolchak who
was fighting against the Bolsheviks in Siberia. Not surprisingly,
Kolchak also received f u n d i n ~ from a consortium of British finan-
ciers, including Alfred Milner.
It is commonly stated that the original intent of the Red Cross
mission to Moscow was to prevent the Russian government from
making a separate peace with Germany which would release
German troops to fight against England and France. According to
that version of the story-which portrays the actors as patriots
1. See John P. Diggins, Mussolini and Fascism: The View from America (Princeton,
New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1972).
2. Sutton, Revolution, pp. 163-68.
3. Ibid., pp. 102, 146, 166-67.
280 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
merely doing what was best for the war effort-the first goal was to
support the Tsar. When the Tsar was overthrown, they supported
the Mensheviks because they had pledged to stay in the war. When
the Mensheviks were ousted, they continued to support the
Bolsheviks in order to gain sufficient influence to convince them
not to give aid to Germany. It takes a great deal of gullibility to
swallow that line. A far more plausible reading is that the Morgan
interests were merely doing what they had always done: placing
bets on all horses so that, no matter which one crossed the finish
line, the winner would be obligated to them.
BRITISH AGENT OF THE ROUND TABLE
After the Bolsheviks had seized power in Russia, Sir George
Buchanan was recalled as the British Ambassador and replaced by
a member of Milner's Kindergarten, a young man by the name of
Bruce Lockhart. In his book, British Agent, Lockhart describes the
circumstances of his assignment. Speaking of a meeting with Prime
Minister Lloyd George, he wrote:
I saw that his own mind was made up. He had been greatly
impressed, as Lord Milner told me afterwards, by an interview with
Colonel Thompson of the American Red Cross, who had just returned
from Russia and who had denounced in blunt language the folly of the
Allies in not opening up negotiations with the Bolsheviks ... .
Three days later all my doubts were put at rest. I was to go to
Russia as head of a special mission to establish unofficial relations with
the Bolsheviks .... I had been selected for this Russian mission not by
the Foreign Secretary but by the War Cabinet-actually by Lord
Milner and Mr. Lloyd George ....
Lord Milner I saw almost daily. Five days before my departure I
dined alone with him at Brook's. He was in his most inspiring mood.
He talked to me with a charming frankness about the war, about the
future of England, about his own career, and about the opportunities
of youth.. .. He was, too, very far from being the Jingo and the
Conservative reactionary whom popular opinion at one time
represented him to be. On the contrary, many of his views on society
were startling modem. He believed in the highly organized state, in
which service, efficiency, and hard work were more important than
titles or money-bags.
1
1. R.H. Bruce Lockhart, British Agent (New Yark and London: G.P. Putnam's Sons,
1933), pp. 198-99,204, 206-{)7.
MASQUERADE IN MOSCOW
281
AMERICAN AGENT OF THE ROUND TABLE
When Thompson returned to the United States, the man he
selected to replace himself as head of the American Red Cross
Mission was his second-in-command, Raymond Robins. Not much
is known about Robins except that he was the protege of Col.
Edward Mandell House, and he might have remained an obscure
player in this drama had it not been for fact that .he became one
of the central characters in Bruce Lockhart s book. It IS there that we
get this inside view:
Another new acquaintance of these first days in the Bolshevized
51. Petersburg was Raymond Robins, the head of the American Red
Cross Mission .... He had been a leading figure in Roosevelt's "Bull
Moose" campaign for the American Presidency in 1912. Although a
rich man himself, he was an anti-capitalist .... Hitherto, his two heroes
had been Roosevelt and Cecil Rhodes. Now Lenin had captured his
imagination.... Robins was the only man whom Lenin was always
willing to see and who ever succeeded in imposing his own
personality on the unemotional Bolshevi!< .
In a less official sense Robins had a slffillar ffilSSlon to my own. He
was the intermediary between the Bolsheviks and the American
Government and had set himself the task of persuading President
Wilson to recognize the Soviet regime.
1
What an amazing revelation is contained in those words. First,
we learn that Robins was a leader in the team effort that threw the
election of 1912 to Woodrow Wilson. Then we learn that he was an
anti-capitalist. Third, we discover that an anti-capitalist can hero-
worship Cecil Rhodes. Then we see the tremendous power he
wielded over Lenin. And finally, we are told that, although he was
part of a private group financed by Wall Street bankers, he was in
reality the intermediary between the Bolsheviks and the American
Government. One will look in vain for a better summary.
The fact that Cecil Rhodes was one of Robin's great heroes has
special significance for this story. It was not merely an
infatuation from college days. On the night before he left RUSSIa,
Robins dined with Lockhart. Describing the occasion, Lockhart
says: "He had been reading Rhodes' life and after dinner he gave us
a wonderful exposition of Rhodes' character.,,2 Thus, both Lockhart
1. Lockhart, p. 220.
2. Ibid., p. 270.
282 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
and Robins were dedicated disciples of Cecil Rhodes and both were
undoubtedly part of the international network to which Professor
Quigley alluded-possibly even members of the Round Table.
Lockhart reported to the British group while Robins reported to the
American group, but both were clearly working for identical
objectives and doing the work of the unseen hand.
The Bolsheviks were well aware of the power these men
represented, and there was no door closed to them. They were
allowed to attend meetings of the Central Executive Committee
1
,
and were consulted regarding important decisions? But perhaps
the best way to appraise the extent of the influence these "capital-
ists" had over the "anti-capitalists" is to let Lockhart tell his own
story. In his memoirs, he wrote:
I returned from our interview to our flat to find an urgent message
from Robins requesting me to come to see him at once. I found him in
a state of great agitation. He had been in conflict with Saalkind, a
nephew of Trotsky and then Assistant Commissar for Foreign Affairs.
Saa1!<ind had been rude, and the American, who had a promise from
Lenm that, whatever happened, a train would always be ready for him
at an hour's notice, was determined to exact an apology or to leave the
country. When I arrived, he had just finished telephoning to Lenin. He
his ultimatum, and Lenin had promised to give a reply
wlthm ten mmutes. I waited, while Robins fumed. Then the telephone
rang and Robins picked up the receiver. Lenin had capitulated.
Saalkind was dismissed from his post. But he was an old member of
the Party. Would Robins have any objection if Lenin sent him as a
Bolshevik emissary to Berne? Robins smiled grimly. "Thank you, Mr.
Lenin," he said. "As I can't send the son of a bitch to hell, 'bum' is the
next best thing you can do with him.,,3
Such was the raw power over the leaders of Communism that
was concealed behind the innocent facade of the American Red
Cross Mission. And yet, the world-even today-has no inkling of
its reality. It has been a carefully guarded secret, and even many of
those who were close to it were unable to see it. The assistant to
William Thompson in Russia was Cornelius Kelleher. In later years,
reflecting on the naivete of Dr. Franklin Billings, who was head of
the mission's medical team, Kelleher wrote:
1. Ibid., p. 253.
2 U.S. State Dept. Decimal File, 861.00/3449.
3. Lockhart, pp. 225-26.
MASQUERADE IN MOSCOW 283
Poor Mr. Billings believed he was in charge of a scientific mission
for the relief of Russia .... He was in reality nothing but a mask-the
Red Cross complexion of the mission was nothing but a mask.
1
The purpose of a mask, of course, is to conceal. And so we are
led to ask the question, what was behind that mask? What were the
true motives and goals of the masqueraders?
We shall turn to that subject next.
SUMMARY
The·Bolshevik revolution was not a spontaneous uprising of the
masses. It was planned, financed, and orchestrated by outsiders.
Some of the financing came from Germany which hoped that
internal problems would force Russia out of the war against her.
But most of the money and leadership came from financiers in
England and the United States. It was a perfect example of the
Rothschild formula in action.
This group centered mainly around a secret society created by
Cecil Rhodes, one of the world's wealthiest men at the time. The
purpose of that group was nothing less than world dominion and
the establishment of a modern feudalist society controlled by the
world's central banks. Headquartered in England, the Rhodes
inner-most directorate was called the Round Table. In other coun-
tries, there were established subordinate structures called Round-
Table Groups. The Round-Table Group in the United States became
known as the Council on Foreign Relations. The CFR, which was
initially dominated by J.P. Morgan and later by the Rockefellers, is
the most powerful group in America today. It is even more
powerful than the federal government, because almost all of the
key positions in government are held by its members. In other
words, it is the United States government.
Agents of these two groups cooperated closely in pre-revolu-
tionary Russia and particularly after the Tsar was overthrown. The
American contingent in Russia disguised itself as a Red Cross
mission allegedly doing humanitarian work. Cashing in on their
close friendship with Trotsky and Lenin, they obtained profitable
business concessions from the new government which returned
their initial investment many times over.
1. Kennan, Russia, p. 59.
Courtesy of Edward Wardell
Above is the "Red Cross M i s s i o n ~ in Moscow shortly after the Bolshevik
Revolution. (L-R) J.W. Andrews, Raymond Robins, Allen Wardell, D. Heywood
Hardy. Under the pretense of humanitarianism, the Misson's key personnel were
Wall Street financiers following their own agenda for acquiring profitable
commercial concessions from the new govemment. They heavily financed all
factions of the revolutionary movement to be sure of gaining influence with
whatever group should come out on top.
Below is a cablegram from J.P. Morgan to William Boyce Thompson-head of the
Red Cross Mission prior to Robins-advising that one million dollars had been
transferred to Thompson via the National City Bank. There were many such
infusions of "Capitalisf money into the new Communist regime. The process
continues to this day.
yOU • L
.., w
I .l.T I _ .• 1 L ~ I • Y
284
Chapter Fourteen
THE BEST ENEMY
MONEY CAN BUY
The coup d'etat in Russia in which the Bolshevik
minority seized control from the revolutionary
majority; the role played by New York financiers,
masquerading as Red Cross officials, in support-
ing the Bolsheviks; the unbroken record since then
of American assistance in building Russia's war-
making potential; the emergence of a "credible
enemy" in accordance with the Rothschild
Formula.
In the previous section we saw that the Red Cross Mission in
revolutionary Russia was, in the words of its own personnel,
"nothing but a mask." This leads to the logical question, what were
the true motives and goals that were hidden behind that mask.
In later years, it would be explained by the participants
themselves that they simply were engaged in a humanitarian effort
to keep Russia in the war against Germany and, thus, to help the
cause of freedom for England and her allies. For Jacob Schiff and
other Jewish financiers in New York, there was the additional
explanation that they opposed the Tsar because of his anti-
Semitism. These, of course, are admirable motives, and they have
been uncritically accepted by mainstream historians ever since.
Unfortunately, the official explanations do not square with the
facts.
RUSSIA'S TWO REVOLUTIONS
The facts are that there were two revolutions in Russia that
year, not one. The first, called the February Revolution, resulted in
the establishment of a provisional socialist government under the
leadership of Aleksandr Kerensky. It was relatively moderate in its
policies and attempted to accommodate all revolutionary factions
including the Bolsheviks who were the smallest minority. When
286 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
the February Revolution occurred, neither Lenin nor Trotsky were
even in Russia. Lenin was in Switzerland and didn't arrive until
April. Trotsky was still in New York writing propaganda and
giving speeches.
The second revolution, called the October Revolution, was the
one through which the Bolsheviks came to power. It was, in fact, no
revolution at all. It was a coup d'etat. The Bolsheviks simply took
advantage of the confusion and indecisiveness that existed among
the various groups that comprised the new government and caught
them by surprise with a lightening strike of force. With a combina-
tion of bribes and propaganda, they recruited several regiments of
soldiers and sailors and, in the early morning darkness of October
25, methodically took military possession of all government build-
ings and communication centers. No one was prepared for such
audacity, and resistance was almost non-existent. By dawn, with-
out the Russian people even knowing what had happened-much
less having any voice in that action, their country had been captured
by a minority faction and become the world's first so-called
"people's republic." Within two days, Kerensky had fled for his
life, and all Provisional Government ministers had been arrested.
That is how the Communists seized Russia and that is how they
held it afterward. Contrary to the Marxian myth, they have never
represented the people. They simply have the guns.
The basic facts of this so-called revolution are described by
Professor Leonard Schapiro in his authoritative work, The Russian
Revolutions of1917:
All the evidence suggests that when the crisis came the great
majority of units of the Petrograd Garrison did not support the
government but simply remained neutraL.. The Cossack units
rejected its call for support, leaving the government with only a few
hundred women soldiers and around two thousand military cadets on
its side. The Bolsheviks, on the other hand, could count on several
regiments to carry out their orders. Units of the Baltic Fleet also
supported them ....
In the event, the Bolshevik take-over was almost bloodless: in
contrast with what had happened in February, nothing could have
been less like a city in the throes of revolution than Petrograd on 25
October. Crowds of well-dressed people thronged the streets in the
evening. Theaters and restaurants were open, and at the opera,
Shaliapin sang in Boris Godunov. The principal stations and services
THE BEST ENEMY MONEY CAN BUY 287
had all been taken over by the morning of 25 October without a shot
being fired ....
A battleship and several cruisers, including the Aurora, had
reached Petrograd from Kronstadt and were anchored with their guns
trained on targets in the city ....
The Provisional Government inside the Winter Palace ... received
an ultimatum calling for surrender of its members, under threat of
bombardment of the palace by Aurora and by the guns of the Peter and
Paul Fortress .... It was only at 9:40 P.M. that the Aurora was ordered to
fire-and discharged one blank shell. The main effect of this was to
accelerate the thinning out of the cadet defenders of the palace, who
had already begun to dwindle. The women soldiers, who had formed
part of its defense force, also left before the palace was invaded. At
11 P.M. some live shells were fired, and the palace was slightly
damaged ....
The story of the dramatic storming of the Winter Palace, popular
with Soviet historians and in the cinema, is a myth. At around 2 AM. on
26 October, a small detachment of troops, followed by an unruly
crowd and led by two members of the MRC [Military Revolutionary
Committee], entered the palace. The remaining officer cadets were,
apparently, prepared to resist, but were ordered to surrender by the
ministers. In the end, the total casualties were three officer cadets
wounded.
1
POPULAR SUPPORT WAS NOT NECESSARY
Eugene Lyons had been a correspondent for United Press in
revolutionary Russia. He began his career as highly sympathetic to
the Bolsheviks and their new regime, but six years of actual living
inside the new socialist utopia shattered his illusions. In his
acclaimed book, Workers' Paradise Lost, he summarizes the true
meaning of the October Revolution:
Lenin, Trotsky, and their cohorts did not overthrow the
monarchy. They overthrew the first democratic society in Russian
history, set up through a truly popular revolution in March, 1917 ... .
They represented the smallest of the Russian radical movements ... .
But theirs was a movement that scoffed at numbers and frankly
mistrusted the multitudes. The workers could be educated for their
role after the revolution; they would not be led but driven to their
terrestrial heaven. Lenin always sneered at the obsession of competing
socialist groups with their "mass base." "Give us an organization of
1. Leonard Shapiro, The Russian Revolutions 0/1917 (New York: Basic Books, 1984),
pp.135-36.
288 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
professional revolutionaries," he used to say, "and we will turn Russia
upside down." ...
Even these contingents were pathetically duped, having not the
remotest notion of the real purposes for which they were being used.
They were striking out, they thought, for the multi-party Soviets, for
freedom, equality, and other goals which their organizers regarded as
emotional garbage ....
On the brink of the dictatorship, Lenin dared to promise that the
state will fade away, since "all need of force will vanish." Not at some
remote future, but at once: "The proletarian state begins to wither
immediately after its triumph, for in a classless society a state is
unnecessary and impossible .... Soviet power is a new kind of state, in
which there is no bureaucracy, no police, no standing army." Also: "So
long as the state exists, there is no freedom. When there is freedom,
there will be no state."
Within a few months after they attained power, most of the tsarist
practices the Leninists had condemned were revived, usually in more
ominous forms: political prisoners, convictions without trial and
without the formality of charges, savage persecution of dissenting
views, death penalties for more varieties of crime than in any other
modern nation. The rest were put into effect in the following years,
including the suppression of all other parties, restoration of the
internal passport, a state monopoly of the press, along with repressive
practices the monarchy had outlived for a century or more.
1
All of this, of course, is a departure from the main narrative, but
it has been necessary to illustrate a fact that has been obscured by
the passage of time and the acceptance of myth by mainstream
historians. The fact is that Lenin and Trotsky were not sent to
Russia to overthrow the anti-Semitic Tsar. Their assignment from
Wall Street was to overthrow the revolution.
NOTES FROM LINCOLN STEFFENS' DIARY
That this was the prevailing motive of the New York money
powers was clearly brought to light in the diary of Lincoln Steffens,
one of America's best-known leftist writers of that time. Steffens
was on board the 5.5. Kristianiafjord when Trotsky was taken off
and arrested in Halifax. He carefully wrote down the conversations
he had with other passengers who also were headed to strife-torn
Russia. One of these was Charles Crane, vice president of the Crane
Company. Crane was a backer of Woodrow Wilson and former
1. Eugene Lyons, Workers' Paradise Lost (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1967)
pp.13-29.
THE BEST ENEMY MONEY CAN BUY 289
chairman of the Democratic Party's finance committee. He also had
organized the Westinghouse Company in Russia and had made no
less than twenty-three prior visits. His son, Richard Crane, was
confidential assistant to then Secretary of State, Robert Lansing. It is
instructive, therefore, to read Steffens' notes regarding the views of
these traveling companions. He wrote: 1/.. . all agree that the
revolution is in its first phase only, that it must grow. Crane and the
Russian Radicals on the ship think we shall be in Petrograd for the
I
· ,,1
re-revo ution.
Precisely. Re-revolution was the expectation and the goal, not
the elimination of anti-Semitism.
With regard to Thompson's claim that he was merely trying to
keep Russia in the war against Germany, here again, the logic of
actual events speak against it. Kerensky and the provisional
government were for the war effort. Yet, the Red Cross masquerad-
ers eventually threw their strongest support to the Bolsheviks who
were against it. Their excuse was that it was obvious the Bolsheviks
would soon control the new government and they were merely
looking to the future. They did not like the Bolsheviks, they said,
but had to deal with them pragmatically. So they became staunch
supporters merely to gain influence with the inevitable victors and,
hopefully, to persuade them to change their position on the war.
Alas, it didn't work out that way. Influence they had, as we
have seen, but the Bolsheviks never wavered in their views. After
seizing control in the October coup d'etat, they did exactly what they
claimed all along they would do. They signed a peace treaty with
Germany and confiscated private property. They also began one of
the world's greatest bloodbaths to eliminate their opposition. None
of this could be blamed on the masqueraders, you understand. It
was all the fault of Wilson and the other politicians at home who,
by not following Thompson's recommendation to send U.5. tax
dollars to the Bolsheviks, forced them into such drastic action. That,
at least, is the accepted view.
In reality, a Bolshevik victory at that time was anything but
certain, and there was little reason-beyond the support given by
the New York financiers themselves-to believe they would
become the dominant voice of Russia. But, even if we grant the
1. Lincoln Steffens, The Letters of Lincoln Steffens (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1941),
p.396.
290 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
assumption that these men were unusually astute political
observers who were truly able to foresee the future course, we are
still faced with serious obstacles, not the least of which are the
thoughts and words of the masqueraders themselves. For example,
in February of 1918, Arthur Bullard was in Russia as head of the
Russian branch of the Committee on Public Information, which was
the war-propaganda arm of the U.S. government. Bullard was aptly
described by historian George Kennan as a "liberal socialist, free
lance writer, and private eye of Colonel House."l In his official
capacity he had many occasions to consult with Raymond Robins
and, in a report describing one of these conversations, Bullard
wrote:
He [Robins] had one or two reservations-in particular, that
recognition of the Bolsheviks was long overdue, that it should have
been effected immediately, and that had the U.S. so recognized the
Bolsheviks, "I believe that we would now be in control of the surplus
resources of Russia and have control officers at all points on the
frontier. ,,2
WOLVES BEHIND THE MASK
The following year, the U.S. Senate conducted an investigation
into the role played by prominent American citizens in supporting
the Bolshevik's rise to power. One of the documents entered into
the record was an early communique from Robins to Bruce
Lockhart. In it Robins said:
You will hear it said that I am an agent of Wall Street; that I am the
servant of William B. Thompson to get Altai Copper for him; that I
have already got 500,000 acres of the best timber land in Russia for
myself; that I have already copped off the Trans-Siberian Railway; that
they have given me a monopoly of the platinum in Russia; that this
explains my working for the soviet .... You will hear that talk. Now, I
do not think it is true, Commissioner, but let us assume it is true. Let us
assume that I am here to capture Russia for Wall Street and American
business men. Let us assume that you are a British wolf and I am" an
American wolf, and that when this war is over we are going to eat each
other up for the Russian market; let us do so in perfectly frank, man
fashion, but let us assume at the same time that we are fairly intelligent
1. George F. Kennan, The Decision to Intervene: Soviet-American Relations, 1917-1920
(princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1958), pp. 190,235.
2. Bullard ms., U.S. State Dept. Decimal File, 316-11-1265, March 19, 1918.
THE BEST ENEMY MONEY CAN BUY 291
wolves, and that we know that if we do not hunt together in this hour
the German wolf will eat us both up.
1
Professor Sutton has placed all this into perspective. In the
following passage, he is speaking specifically about William
Thompson, but his remarks apply with equal force to Robins and
all of the other financiers who were part of the Red Cross Mission
in Russia.
Thompson's motives were primarily financial and commercial.
Specifically, Thompson was interested in the Russian market, and how
this market could be influenced, diverted, and captured for postwar
exploitation by a Wall Street syndicate, or syndicates. Certainly
Thompson viewed Germany as an enemy, but less a political enemy
than an economic or a commercial enemy. German industry and
German banking were the real enemy. To outwit Germany, Thompson
was willing to place seed money on any political power vehicle that
would achieve his objective. In other words, Thompson was an
American imperialist fighting against German imperialism, and this
struggle was shrewdly recognized and exploited by Lenin and
Trotsky ....
Thompson was not a Bolshevik; he was not even pro-Bolshevik.
Neither was he pro-Kerensky. Nor was he even pro-American. The
overriding motivation was the capturing of the postwar Russian market. This
was a commercial objective. Ideology could sway revolutionary
operators like Kerensky, Trotsky, Lenin et al., but not financiers.
2
Did the wolves of the Round Table actually succeed in their
goal? Did they, in fact, capture the surplus resources of Russia? The
answer to that question will not be found in our history books. It
must be tracked down along the trail of subsequent events, and
what we must look for is this. If the plan had not been successful,
we would expect to find a decline of interest on the part of high
finance, if not outright hostility. On the other hand, if it did succeed,
We would expect to see, not only continued support, but some
evidence of profit taking by the investors, a payback for their
efforts and their risk. With those footprints as our guide, let us turn
now to an overview of what has actually happened since the
Bolsheviks were assisted to power by the Round Table network.
1. U.S. Cong., Senate, Bolshevik Propaganda, Subcommittee of the Committee on the
Judiciary, 65th Cong., 1919, p. 802.
2. Sutton, Revolution, pp. 97-98.
292 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
ITEM: After the October Revolution, all the banks in Russia
were taken over and "nationalized" by the Bolsheviks---except one:
the Petrograd branch of Rockefeller's National City Bank.
ITEM: Heavy industry in Russia was also nationalized- except
the Westinghouse plant, which had been established by Charles
Crane, one of the dignitaries aboard the 5.5. Kristianiafjord who had
traveled to Russia with Trotsky to witness the re-revolution.
ITEM: In 1922, the Soviets formed their first international bank.
It was not owned and run by the state as would be dictated by
Communist theory, but was put together by a syndicate of private
bankers. These included, not only former Tsarist bankers, but
representatives of German, Swedish, and American banks. Most of
the foreign capital came from England, including the British
government itself.
1
The man appointed as Director of the Foreign
Division of the new bank was Max May, Vice President of
Morgan's Guaranty Trust Company in New York.
ITEM: In the years immediately following the October Revolu-
tion, there was a steady stream of large and lucrative (read
non-competitive) contracts issued by the Soviets to British and
American businesses which were directly or indirectly run by the
Round Table network. The largest of these, for example, was a
contract for fifty million pounds of food products to Morris &
Company, Chicago meat packers. Helen Swift was married to
Edward Morris who was the brother of Harold Swift. Harold Swift
had been a "Major" at the Red Cross Mission in Russia.
ITEM: In payment for these contracts and to return the "loans"
of the financiers, the Bolsheviks all but drained their country of its
gold-which included the Tsarist government's sizable reserve--
and shipped it primarily to American and British banks. In 1920
alone, one shipment came to the U.S. through Stockholm valued at
39,000,000 Swedish kroner; three shipments came direct involving
540 boxes of gold valued at 97,200,000 gold roubles; plus at least
one other direct shipment bringing the total to about $20 million.
(Remember, these are 1920 values!) The arrival of these shipments
was coordinated by Jacob Schiff's Kuhn, Loeb & Company and
deposited by Morgan's Guaranty Trust.
2
1. U.S. State Dept. Decimal File, 861.516/129, August 28,1922.
2. U.S. State Dept., Decimal File, 861.51/815, 836, 837, October, 1920. Also Sutton,
Revolution, pp. 159-60, 165.
THE BEST ENEMY MONEY CAN BUY 293
ITEM: It was at about this time that the Wilson Administration
sent 700,000 tons of food to the Soviet Union which, not only s ~ v e d
the regime from certain collapse, but gave Lenin the power to
consolidate his control over all of Russia.
1
The U.S. Food Admini-
stration, which handled this giant operation, was handsomely
profitable for those commercial enterprises that participated. It was
headed by Herbert Hoover and directed by Lewis Lichtenstein
Strauss, married to Alice Hanauer, daughter of one of the partners
of Kuhn, Loeb & Company.
ITEM: U.S., British, and German wolves soon found a bonanza
of profit in selling to the new Soviet regime. Standard Oil and
General Electric supplied $37 million worth of machinery from
1921 to 1925, and that was just the beginning. Junkers Aircraft in
Germany literally created Soviet air power. At least three million
slave laborers perished in the icy mines of Siberia digging ore for
Britain's Lena Goldfields, Ltd. W. Averell Harriman-a railroad
magnate and banker from the United States who later was to
become Ambassador to Russia-acquired a twenty-year monopoly
over all Soviet manganese production. Armand Hammer---close
personal friend of Lenin-made one of the world's greatest for-
tunes by mining Russian asbestos.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND: THE DEAF MUTE
BLIND MEN
In those early years, the Bolsheviks were desperate for foreign
goods, services, and capital investment. They knew that they
would be gouged by their "capitalist" associates, but what of it? It
wasn't their money. All they cared about was staying in power.
And that was not as easy as it may have seemed. Even after the coup
d'etat in which they seized control of the mechanism of govern-
ment, they still did not control the country at large. In fact, in 1919,
Lenin had almost given up hope of expanding beyond Petrograd
and a part of Moscow. Except for Odessa, all of Southern Russia
and the Crimea were in the hands of General Deniken who was
stronglyanti-Communist. Speaking before the Tenth Congress of
the Russian Communist Party, Lenin laid it out plainly:
1. See George F. Kennan, Russia and the West under Lenin and Stalin (Boston: Little,
Brown and Company, 1961), p. 180.
294 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
Without the assistance of capital it will be impossible for us to
retain proletarian power in an incredibly ruined country in which the
peasantry, also ruined, constitutes the overwhelming majority-and,
of course, for this assistance capital will squeeze hundreds per cent out
of us. This is what we have to understand. Hence, either this type of
economic relations or nothing ....
1
On another occasion Lenin further explained his rationale for
accepting Wall Street's terms. He said:
The Capitalists of the world and their governments, in pursuit of
conquest of the Soviet market, will close their eyes to the indicated
higher reality and thus will tum into deaf mute blindmen. They will
extend credits, which will strengthen for us the Communist Party in
their countries; and giving us the materials and technology we lack,
they will restore our military industry, indispensable for our future
victorious attack on our suppliers. In other words, they will labor for
the preparation of their own suicide.
2
Arthur Bullard, mentioned previously as the representative in
Russia of the U.S. Committee on Public Information, apparently
understood the Bolshevik strategy well. Even as early as March of
1918, he sent a cablegram to Washington warning that, while it is
true we ought to be ready to help any honest government in need,
nevertheless, he said, "men or money sent to the present rulers of
Russia will be used against Russians at least as much as against
Germans .... I strongly advise against giving material help to the
present Russian government. Sinister elements in Soviets seem to
b
.. 1,,3
e gallling contro .
Unfortunately, Mr. Bullard was a minor player in this game,
and his opinion was filtered by others along the way. This
cablegram was sent to his superior, none other than Col. Edward
Mandell House, in hopes that it would be relayed to the President.
The message did not get through.
A SIDE TRIP THROUGH WORLD WAR II
Returning to the trail of actual events since that time, let us
pause briefly to take a short side trip through World War II.
1. V.I. Lenin, Report to the Tenth Congress of the Russian Communist Party,
March 15, 1921. Quoted by Sutton, Revolution, p. 157.
2. Quoted by Joseph Finder, Red Carpet (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston,
1983), p. 8.
3. Arthur Bullard papers, Princeton University, cited by Sutton, Revolution, p. 46.
THE BEST ENEMY MONEY CAN BUY 295
Financing and profiting from both sides in a conflict has never been
more blatant.
ITEM: From the beginning of Hitler's rise to power, German
industry was heavily financed by American and British bankers.
Most of the largest U.S. Corporations were knowingly invested in
war industries. I.G. Farben was the largest of the industrial cartels
and was a primary source of political funding for Hitler. It was
Farben that staffed and directed Hitler's intelligence section and
ran the Nazi slave lahor camps as a supplemental source of
manpower for Germany's factories. Farben even hired the New
York public relations firm of Ivy Lee, who was John D. Rockefel-
ler's PR specialist, to help improve Hitler's public image in
America. Lee, incidentally, had also been used to help sell the
Soviet regime to the American public in the late 1920s.
1
ITEM: Much of the capital for the expansion of I.G. Farben
came from Wall Street, primarily Rockefeller's National City Bank;
Dillon, Read & Company, also a Rockefeller firm; Morgan's Equita-
ble Trust Company; Harris Forbes & Company; and, yes, the
predominantly Jewish firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Company?
ITEM: During the Allied bombing raids over Germany, the
factories and administrative buildings of I.G. Farben were spared
upon instructions from the U.S. War Department. The War Depart-
ment was liberally staffed with men, who in civilian life, had been
associates of the investment firms previously mentioned. For
example, the Secretary of War at that time was Robert P. Patterson.
James Forrestal was Secretary of the Navy and later became
Secretary of Defense. Both men had corne from Dillon Read and, in
fact, Forrestal had been president of that firm.
ITEM: During World War II, under the Lend-Lease program,
the United States sent to the Soviets more than $11 billion in aid,
including 14,000 aircraft, nearly half a million tanks and other
military vehicles, more than 400 combat ships, and even half of the
entire U.S. supply of uranium which then was critically needed for
the development of the atomic bomb. But fully one-third of all the
Lend-Lease shipments during this period comprised industrial
equipment and supplies to be used for the development of the
1. Anthony Sutton, Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler (Seal Beach, California: '76
Press, 1976),. 15-18,33-43,67-97,99-113. Also Revolution, p. 174.
2. Sutton, Hitler, pp. 23-61.
296 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
Russian economy after the war. And when the war did end, the
Lend-Lease program continued to flow into the Soviet Union for
over a year. As late as the end of 1946, Russia was still receiving
twenty-year credit terms at 2% per cent interest, a far lower rate
than returning GIs could obtain.
1
THE TRANSFUSION MECHANISM
With the termination of the Lend-Lease program, it was neces-
sary to invent new mechanisms for the support of Soviet Russia
and her satellites. One of these was the sale of much-needed
commodities at prices below the world market and, in fact, below
the prices that Americans themselves had to pay for the same
items. This meant, of course-as it did in the case of Lend
Lease-that the American taxpayer had to make up the difference.
The Soviets were not even required to have the money to buy these
goods. American financial institutions, the federal government, and
international agencies which are largely funded by the federal
government, such as the International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank-lent the money to them. Furthermore, the interest
rates on these loans also are below the market requiring still
additional subsidy by American citizens. And that is not all. Almost
all of these loans have been guaranteed by the United States
government, which means that if-no, make that when-these
countries default in their payments, the gullible American public is
once again called upon to make them good. In other words, the
new mechanism, innocently and deceptively referred to as "trade,"
is little more than a thinly disguised means by which members of
the Round Table who direct our national policies have bled billions
of dollars from American citizens for an ongoing economic transfu-
sion into the Soviet bloc-and continue to do so now that the word
Soviet has been changed to the less offensive Democratic Socialism.
This enables those regimes to enter into contracts with American
businessmen to provide essential services. And the circle is com-
plete: From the American taxpayer to the American government to the
"socialist" regime to the American businessman and, ultimately, to the
American financier who funded the project and provided the political
influence to make it all possible.
1. Anthony C. Sutton, National Suicide: Military Aid to the Soviet Union (New
Rochelle. New York: Arlington House, 1973), p. 24.
THE BEST ENEMY MONEY CAN BUY 297
This is the key to understanding the transfusion mechanism.
Many Americans have looked at this process and have j ~ p e d to
the conclusion that there must be a nest of Communist agents
within our government. In an exam on reality politics, they would
receive half credit for that answer. Yes, there undoubtedly have
been, and continue to be, Red agents and sympathizers burrowed
deep into our government woodwork, and they are all too happy to
help the process along. But the main motive force has always come
from the non-Communist, non-Democratic Socialist, non-
American, non-anything members of the Round Table network
who, as Lenin said, in the pursuit of profit are laboring for the
preparation of their own suicide.
These men are incapable of genuine patriotism. They think of
themselves, not as citizens of any particular country, but as citizens
of the world. They can do business just as easily with bloodthirsty
dictatorships as with any other government---especially since they
are assured by the transfer mechanism that the American taxpayer
is going to make good on the deal.
When David Rockefeller was asked about the propriety of
providing funding for Marxist and Communist countries which are
openly hostile to the United States, he responded: "I don't think an
international bank such as ours ought to try to set itself as a judge
about what kind of government a country wishes to have."
Wishes to have? He was talking about Angola where the
Marxist dictatorship was forced upon the people with Cuban
soldiers and Soviet weapons!
Thomas Theqbald, Vice President of Citicorp, was asked in 1981
about his bank's loans to Poland. Was he embarrassed by making
loans to a Communist country, especially following the regime's
brutal repression of free-trade unions? Not at all. "Who knows
which political system works?" he replied. "The only test we care
about is, can they pay their bills." What he meant, of course, was
can the American taxpayer pay Poland's bills.
ITEM: The following item, taken directly from the Los Angeles
Times just a few months after Theobald's statement, tells the story:
WASHINGTON-For months, the Reagan Administration has
been using federal funds to repay Polish loans owed to U.S. banks, and
the bill for this fiscal year may amount to $400 million, Deputy
Secretary of Agriculture Richard E. Lyng said Monday .... "They (the
Polish authorities) have not been making payments for at least the last
298 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
half of the last year," Lyng said. "When they don't make a payment,
the U.s. Department of Agriculture makes a payment." ...
Lyng said the US. Government paid $60 million to $70 million a
month on guaranteed Polish loans in October, November, December,
and January-and "we will continue to pay them."l
This, remember, was precisely at the time the Polish govern-
ment had declared martial law and was using military force to
crush workers' demonstrations for political reform. The Polish
default on this $1.6 billion loan was by no means an isolated event.
Communist Rumania and a multitude of Latin American countries
were soon to follow.
The hard fact is that American taxpayers unknowingly have
been making monthly bank payments on behalf of Communist,
socialist, and so-called Third-World countries for many years. And,
with the more recent staging of apparent reform within the former
Soviet bloc, Congress has tripped allover itself to greatly accelerate
that trend.
Americans, of course, want to believe that the Evil Empire is
crumbling, and the Soviets-turned-Democrats play directly to that
desire. Since the end of World War II, their primary objectives have
been (1) to disarm us and (2) to get our money. The facade of
Perestroika and Glasnost has been merely a ploy to accomplish both
objectives at once. All they have had to do is get rid of a few of the
old hard-liners, replace them with less well-known personalities
who are essentially the same (all of the new leaders come from the
ranks of the old leadership), change their labels from "Commu-
nists" to "Social Democrats," and then sit back while we happily
tear down our military defenses and rush billions of dollars to their
failing economies. There undoubtedly will be some progress
allowed in the area of free speech, but the military and security
organizations continue in full readiness. The iron fist beneath the
velvet glove remains ready to strike when the time comes that the
facade is no longer necessary.
Even if the entire ploy were genuine, there is no reason to
believe that these Social Democracies will ever become better
investment risks. The primary thing that has held them back
economically in the past is their socialist system, and that most
L "u.s. Repaying Loans Owed by Poland to American Banks," by William J.
Eaton, Los Angeles Times, February 2, 1982.
THE BEST ENEMY MONEY CAN BUY 299
definitely will not be changed. All of the new "anti-Communist
Social Democrats" have pledged their loyalty to the principles of
Marx and have said in plain language that they will use our money
to develop, not abandon socialism. These countries will continue to
be unproductive and will continue to be unable to pay their loans.
The American taxpayers will continue to be forced by the Cabal to
pay the bilL
ITEM: Before the Bolshevik coup d'etat, Russia was one of the
most productive agricultural nations in the world. The great wheat
fields in Ukraine justly earned her the title of the Bread Basket of
Europe. But when the people's utopia arrived, agriculture came to
a standstill, and famine stalked the land. Even after Stalin, when the
regime is said to have adopted more humane and productive
policies, Russia never produced enough food for itself. A nation that
cannot feed its citizens cannot develop its industry and it certainly
cannot build a potent military force. It is not surprising, therefore,
that for decades, the United States has annually "sold" tens of
millions of tons of wheat-and other food stuffs-to Russia. The
quote marks are to emphasize the underlying transfusion mecha-
nism previously described.
ITEM: The American government-industrial complex provided
the Soviets with the money, technology, and the actual construction
of two of the world's largest and most modem truck plants. The
Kama River plant and the Zil plant produce over 150,000 heavy-
duty trucks per year-including armored personnel carriers and
missile launchers-plus 250,000 diesel engines, many of which are
used to power Soviet tanks. Forty-five per cent of the cost of this
project came from the US. Export-Import Bank, an agency of the
federal government, and an equal amount from David
Rockefeller's Chase Manhattan Bank. The Soviets put up only ten
per cent. The loan, of course, was taxpayer-guaranteed by the US.
Export-Import Bank which, at the time, was under the direction of
William Casey. Casey later was appointed as head of the CI.A. to
protect America from global Communism.
1
(Are you beginning to
get the picture?)
ITEM: Almost every important facet of Eastern-Bloc heavy
industry could well be stamped "Made in the U.S.A." With the
L "U.5. Builds Soviet War Machine," Industrial Research & Development, July, 1980,
pp.51-54.
300
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
specific approval of each successive president, we have provided
the latest oil-drilling equipment, chemical processing plants, air-
traffic radar systems, equipment to produce precision bearings,
large-craft helicopter engines, laser technology, highly advanced
computer systems, and nuclear power plants. We have trained
hundreds of their technicians in American institutions and factories
and have provided their astronauts with the space suits developed
by NASA. We have even trained their pilots at U.S. Air Force bases
and paid for their military officers to attend our War College. All of
this has been used by the Russian government-as Lenin predicted
it would-to build their military industry in preparation for an
attack on their suppliers. The great pretense of crumbling Commu-
nism, has not altered that strategy. It may even be the implementa-
tion of it.
ITEM: When Boris Yeltsin seized control of the former Soviet
government, one of his first official acts was to decree that foreign
businesses had the right to take their profits out of the country.
From a purely business perspective, that was a sound move
because it would provide incentive for foreign investment. But
there was more to it than that. Recall from a previous chapter that
the lion's share of that investment was to be funded by American
taxpayers in the form of direct aid, bank-loan bailouts, and
government insurance through the Overseas Private Investment
Corporation. Jane Ingraham provides the details:
During 1992 Yeltsin wheeled and dealed with Royal Dutch/Shell,
British Petroleum, Amoco, Texaco, and Exxon. The Chevron joint
venture to develop the Tengiz oil field was signed. McDermott
International, Marathon Oil, and Mitsui signed a contract with the
Russian government to develop oil and natural gas off Sakhalin Island.
Chevron and Oman formed a consortium to build a huge pipeline to
carry crude oil from Kazakhstan to the Black Sea, Mediterranean, and
Persian Gulf. Occidental Petroleum signed a joint venture with Russia
to modernize two oil fields in Siberia .... Newmont mining signed a
joint venture to extract gold in Uzbekistan. Merrill Lynch's chairman,
William Schreyer (CFR), signed up as financial adviser to II aid in
privatizing" the Ukrainian State Property Fund. AT&T CEO Robert
Allen (CFR, Tel) signed a huge contract to supply switching systems
for all of Kazakhstan ....
1. Trilateral Commission.
THE BEST ENEMY MONEY CAN BUY 301
US West joined with the Hungarian government to own and
operate a national cellular telephone system; GM Vice President
Marina Whitman (CFR, TC) joined the governments of Hungary and
Yugoslavia to make cars; GE CEO J ~ h n Welch (CFR) and. v ~ c e
chairman of the board, Lawrence Bossldy (TC), bought a maJonty
stake in Hungary's lighting industry; Ralston-Purina, Dow Chemical,
Eastman Kodak, SC Johnson & Son, Xerox, American Express, Procter
& Gamble, Woolworth, Philip Morris, Ford, Compaq
b d
.. 1
Computer-hardly a single American ran name was mlssmg.
ITEM: In February of 1996, the Clinton Administration made a
$1 billion loan of US taxpayers' money to Russia's state-controlled
Aeroflot company so it could more effectively compete with
American companies such as Boeing in the building of jumbo jets.
By the end of that year, the former Soviet Bloc countries had
received transfusions from the World Bank of over $3 billion.
ITEM: Now the action has spread to China. American banks
and businessmen-with taxpayers standing by with guarantees-
have provided power-generating equipment, modern steel mills,
and military hardware including artillery shells, anti-submarine
torpedoes, and high-tech electronic gear to update Russian-made
jet fighters. All of this is explained as a means of weaning the Red
Chinese away from mother Russia and encouraging them to move
closer to free-enterprise capitalism. Yet, in 1985, at the height of the
frenzy over building trade bridges to China, the regime signed a
$14 billion trade pact with Russia and, in 1986, sent a $20 million
interest-free loan to the Communist Sandinistas in Nicaragua. Even
after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing, when U.S.
officials were publicly condemning China for human-rights viola-
tions, business quietly continued as usual. liThe United States
cannot condone the violent attacks and cannot ignore the conse-
quence for our relationship with China, II said President Bush. Yet,
within only a few weeks of the bloodshed, and at the very time that
student leaders were being executed, the Administration approved
a $200 million, low-interest loan for delivery of four of Boeing's
newest jumbo-jet aircraft. In 1993, forty-seven more jetliners were
sold with a projected sale of 800 more over the next fifteen years.
Amoco is spending $1.5 billion to develop oil fields in the China
Sea. A joint venture between the Chinese government and Chrysler
1. "The Payoff," by Jane H. Ingraham, The New American, June 28, 1993, pp. 25-6.
302 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
is building military jeeps. A similar joint project is being used to
upgrade their F-8 fighter planes. Three communications satellites
were cleared for delivery. AT&T contracted a $30 million cellular
communications network. Even the President's brother, Prescott
Bush, resumed his plan to set up a satellite-linked computer
network and to build a golf course near Shanghai.
China's interest in military technology is revealing. In addition
to the advanced hardware purchased from the United States, the
Chinese have bought MIG-31 and SU-27 jet fighters from Russia
and an aircraft carrier constructed in Ukraine. In May of 1992,
China set off its biggest underground nuclear blast. In 1997, the
purchase list was extended to include self-propelled gun-mortar
systems and Russia's most advanced diesel-electric submarines.
Although it is known that China maintains a slave-labor work
force in excess of a million people-they call them" convicts" -and
although the Tariff Act of 1930 prohibits the United States from
importing any goods made even in part by convicts or other forced
labor, every administration starting with Nixon has renewed the
"most-favored-nation" trade status for China.
How is China expected to pay for all this "trade"? Very simple.
By 1996, China had become the largest single recipient of guaran-
teed loans and subsidies from the World Bank.
ITEM: In addition to these decades of global trade, credit, and
taxpayer guarantees, the United States government has transferred
tens of billions of dollars in direct foreign-aid grants with no pretense
at all regarding expectation of repayment.
The trail leads to Wall Street, and the tracks are fresh. The
Round Table network did succeed in exploiting the markets of
Eastern Europe and continues to do so today. The cast of characters
has changed, but the play remains the same. In the beginning, the
Council on Foreign Relations was dominated by J.P. Morgan. It is
still controlled by international financiers. The Morgan group
gradually has been replaced by the Rockefeller consortium, and the
roll call of participating businesses now reads like the Fortune 500.
The operation no longer pretends to be a Red Cross mission; it now
masquerades under the cover of "East-West Trade."
Politicians are fond of talking about the necessity of preserving
world peace, and trade, we are told, is one of the best ways to do it.
The implication is that this is a time of peace. In truth, we live in
one of the most war-torn eras the world has ever seen. No continent
THE BEST ENEMY MONEY CAN BUY 303
today, except Antarctica, is free from war. There are from 25 to 40
military struggles going on somewhere every day of the year.
There have been more than 150 armed conflicts since the end of
World War II with the death count already in excess of 20 million
and rising.
1
We cannot help noticing that this also has been a period
of rising government debt and the global creation of fiat money.
THE NEW ALCHEMY
The alchemists of ancient times vainly sought the philosophers'
stone which they believed would turn lead into gold. Is it possible
that such a stone actually has been found? Can it be that the money
alchemists of our own time have learned how to transmute war
into debt, and debt into war, and both into gold for themselves?
In a previous section, we theorized a strategy, dubbed the
Rothschild Formula, in which the world's money cabal deliberately
encourages war as a means of stimulating the profitable production
of armaments and of keeping nations perpetually in debt. This is
not profit seeking, it is genocide. It is not a trivial matter, therefore,
to inquire into the possibility that our elected and non-elected
leaders are, in fact, implementing the Rothschild Formula today.
ITEM: In his address to the graduating class at Annapolis in
1983, Secretary of the Navy, John Lehman, said: "Within weeks,
many of you will be looking across just hundreds of feet of water at
some of the most modern technology ever invented in America.
Unfortunately, it is on Soviet ships."
As Professor Sutton observed in his book, The Best Enemy Money
Can Buy, the guns, the ammunition, the weapons, and the transpor-
tation systems that killed Americans in Korea and Vietnam came
from the American-subsidized economy of the Soviet Union. The
trucks that carried these weapons down the Ho Chi Minh Trail
were manufactured in American-built plants. The ships that carried
the supplies to Sihanoukville and Haiphong and later to Angola
and Nicaragua came from NATO allies and used propulsion
systems that our State Department could have kept out of Soviet
hands. Sutton concludes: "The technical capability to wage the
1. These figures are taken from United Nations publication E/CN.5/1985/Rev.1,
1985 Report on the World Social Situation (New York: United Nations, 1985), p. 14. The
January 1993 revision of that document does not give cumulative figures but shows
that the number of conflicts has been accelerating. So the current numbers, what-
ever they may be, are even worse.
304 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
Korean and Vietnamese wars originated on both sides in Western,
mainly American, technology, and the political illusion of "peace-
ful trade" promoted by the deaf mute blindmen was the carrier for
his makin hn I
,,1
t war- g tec oogy.
ITEM: That leads us to the more recent wars in the Middle East
and the rise of "Islamic Fundamentalism." Iran, Iraq, Syria, Algeria,
the PLO, the Muslim Brotherhood, and similar anti-American
groupings have all received weapons, funding, and clandestine
support from the U.S. government. In the Gulf War, every effort
was made to insure that Hussein's regime was contained but not
destroyed (shades of the Korean and Vietnam wars). Most of his
bacterial-weapons factories were spared. After the cease fire, he
was allowed to keep his fleet of helicopter gunships, which he
promptly used to put down a large-scale internal revolt.
The big pill to swallow is that Saddam Hussein has been an
asset to the global planners in the West, and they have done
everything possible to keep him in power. This strategy has lately
become so obvious that there is no longer any serious attempt to
conceal it. The task now is how to explain it to the gullible public so
as to make it sound like a good idea.
As mentioned previously, the think-tank and talent pool for the
implementation of this strategy has been the Council on Foreign
Relations. In 1996, the Managing Editor of the CFR's monthly
journal, Foreign Affairs, was Fareed Zakaria, who offered the
following rationalization:
Yes, it's tempting to get rid of Saddarn. But his bad behavior
actually serves America's purposes in the region ... . If Saddarn
Hussein did not exist, we would have to invent him. . . . The end of
Saddam Hussein would be the end of the anti-Saddam coalition.
Nothing destroys an alliance like the disappearance of the enemy ....
Maintaining a long-term American presence in the gulf would be
difficult in the absence of a regional threat.
2
That is about as clear a statement of the Rothschild Formula as
one is apt to find. Yet, many people cannot believe it is real, even
Congressmen. For example, Representative James Traficant from
Ohio, speaking before the House on April 29, 1997, exclaimed:
1. Anthony Sutton, The Best Enemy Money Can Buy (Billings, Montana: Liberty
House Press, 1986), p. 191.
2. "Thank Goodness for a Villain," Newsweek, Sept. 16, 1996, p. 43.
THE BEST ENEMY MONEY CAN BUY 305
America gives billions to Russia. With American cash, Russia
builds missiles. Russia then sells those missiles to China. And China,
who gets about $45 billion in trade giveaways from Uncle Sam, then
sells those Russian-made missiles to Iran.
Now Iran, with those Russian-made missiles sold to them by
China, threatens the Mideast. So Uncle Sam, who is concerned about
about Iran threatening the Mideast because of those Russian-made
missiles sold to them by China that we financed by American cash
sends more troops and sends more dollars. .. . Mr. Speaker, this is not
foreign policy. This is foreign stupidity.1
Traficant is on target with his analysis of the problem, but he
missed the bull's eye regarding the cause. American leaders are not
stupid. They merely are implementing the Rothschild Formula. To
justify world government, it is necessary to have wars and the
threat of wars. Wars require enemies with frightful weapons.
Sad dam Hussein is one of the best enemies money can buy.
If it is true that Western leaders are deliberately funding their
own enemies, we must assume they have considered Lenin's
prediction that, by so doing, they are preparing their own suicide-
ours, also, by the way. We must also conclude that they are
confident of avoiding that destiny. Whether they are right or wrong
is not the issue here. The point is they believe they are correct and,
further, they are building a world order which they are confident of
being able to control. How they plan to bring that to pass is the
subject of a later section, but perpetual war is an important part of
it. Unless we are able to break the grip of these strategists, the
Rothschild Formula will continue to playa major role in our future.
FIFTH REASON TO ABOLISH THE SYSTEM
There are few historians who would challenge the fact that the
funding of World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the
Vietnam War was accomplished by the Mandrake Mechanism
through the Federal Reserve System. An overview of all wars since
the establishment of the Bank of England in 1694 suggests that most
of them would have been greatly reduced in severity, or perhaps
not even fought at all, without fiat money. It is the ability of
governments to acquire money without direct taxation that makes
modern warfare possible, and a central bank has become the
preferred method of accomplishing that.
1. Congressional Record, April 29, 1997.
306 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
One can argue the necessity, or at least the inevitability, of fiat
money in time of war as a means of raw survival. That is the primal
instinct of both individuals and governments, all other considera-
tions aside. We shall leave that for the philosophers. But there can
be no debate over the fact that fiat money in time of peace has no
such justification. Furthermore, the ability of governments and
banking institutions to use fiat money to fund the wars of other
nations is a powerful temptation for them to become embroiled in
those wars for personal profit, political advancement, or other
reasons which fall far short of a moral justification for bloodshed.
The Federal Reserve System has always served that function.
The on-going strategy of building up the military capabilities of
America's potential enemies leaves us no reason to believe we have
seen the last of war. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that
the Federal Reserve System encourages war. There can be no better
reason for the Creature to be put to sleep.
SUMMARY
The Bolshevik Revolution was a coup d'etat in which a radical
minority captured the Russian government from the moderate
revolutionary majority. They accomplished this through deception,
organization, discipline, and surprise. The Red Cross Mission of
New York financiers threw support to the Bolsheviks and, in
return, received economic rewards in the form of rights to Russia's
natural resources plus contracts for construction and supplies. The
continued participation in the economic development of Russia
and Eastern Europe since that time indicates that this relationship
has survived to the present day. These financiers are not pro-
Communist nor pro-anything else. Their motivation is profit and
power. They are now working to bring both Russia and the United
States into a world government which they expect to control. War
and threats of war are tools to prod the masses toward the
acceptance of that goal. It is essential, therefore, that the United
States and the industrialized nations of the world have credible
enemies. As these words are being written, Russia is wearing the
mask of peace and cooperation. But we have seen that before. We
may yet see a return of the Evil Empire when the timing is right.
U.s. government and megabank funding, first of Russian, and now
of Chinese and Middle-East military capabilities, cannot be under-
stood without this insight.
Section IV
A TALE OF THREE
BANKS
It has been said that those who are ignorant of
history are doomed to repeat its mistakes. It may
come as a surprise to learn that the Federal
Reserve System is America's fourth central bank,
not its first. We have been through all this before
and, each time, the result has been the same.
Interested in what happened? Then let's set the
coordinates of our time machine to the colony of
Massachusetts and the year 1690. To activate, turn
the page.
Chapter Fifteen
THE LOST
TREASURE MAP
The bitter experience of the American colonies
with fiat money; the resolve of the founding
fathers to prohibit the new nation from resorting
to paper money without backing; the drafting of
the Constitution to that end; the creation of a true
American dollar; the prosperity that followed.
In the golden days of radio, on the Edgar Bergen Show, the
ventriloquist would ask his dummy, Mortimer Snerd, "How can
you be so stupid?" And the answer was always the same. After a
moment of deep thought on the part of Mortimer, he would drawl
his reply, "Well, it ain't easy!"
When we look at the monetary chaos around us today-the
evaporating value of the dollar and the collapsing financial institu-
tions-we are compelled to ask: How did we get into this fix? And,
unfortunately, Mortimer's response would be quite appropriate.
To find out how we got to where we are, it will be necessary to
know where we started, and a good place to begin that inquiry is
with the Constitution of the United States. Article I, Sections 8 and
10 say:
Congress shall have the power -
To borrow money ... to coin money, regulate the value thereof,
and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures; ...
[and] to provide for the punishment of counterfeiting ....
No state shall ... coin money; emit bills of credit; [or] make
anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts.
The delegates were precise in their use of these words_
Congress was given the power to "coin money," not to print it.
Thomas M. Cooley's Principles of Constitutional Law explains that
"to coin money is to stamp pieces of metal for use as a medium of
exchange in commerce according to fixed standards of value."
310 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
What was prohibited was to "emit bills of credit" which, according
to the speeches and writings of those who drafted the document,
meant the printing of paper IOUs which were intended to be
circulated as money-in other words, the printing of fiat money
not backed by gold or silver.
At first, it would seem that nothing could be more clear. Yet,
these two simple clauses have become the basis for literally
thousands of pages of conflicting interpretation. The crux of the
problem is that, while the Constitution clearly prohibits the states
from issuing fiat money, it does not specifically prevent the federal
government from doing so. That was truly an unfortunate over-
sight on the part of the document's framers, but they probably
never dreamed in their wildest nightmares that their descendants
"could be so stupid" as to not understand their intent.
Furthermore, "it ain't easy" to miss their intent. All one has to
do is look at the monetary history that led up to the Constitutional
Convention and to read the published letters and debates of the
men who affixed their signatures to that founding document.
As one reads through the debates on the floor of the conven-
tion, one is struck by the passion that these delegates held on the
subject of money. Everyone of them could remember from his
personal experience the utter chaos in the colonies caused by the
issuance of fiat money. They spoke out against it in no uncertain
terms, and they were adamant that it should never be tolerated
again in America-at either the state or federal level.
PAPER MONEY IN THE COLONIES
The first colonial experience with fiat money was in the period
from 1690 to 1764. Massachusetts was the first to use it as a means
of financing its military raids against the French colony in Quebec.
The other colonies were quick to follow suit and, within a few
years, were engaging in a virtual orgy of printing "bills of credit."
There was no central bank involved. The process was simple and
direct, as was the reasoning behind it. As one colonial legislator
explained it:
Do you think, gentlemen, that I will consent to load my
constituents with taxes when we can send to our printer and set a
wagon load of money, one quire of which will pay for the whole?
1. See William M. Gouge, A Short History of Paper Money and Banking in the United
States (Philadelphia: T.W. Ustick, 1833), Part II, p. 27.
THE LOST TREASURE MAP 311
The consequences of this enlightened statesmanship were clas-
sic. Prices skyrocketed, legal tender laws were enacted to force the
colonists to accept the worthless paper, and the common man
endured great personal losses and hardship. By the late 1750s,
Connecticut had price inflated by 800%, the Carolinas had inflated
900%, Massachusetts 1000%, Rhode Island 2300%.1
The situation was so out of hand that, beginning in 1751, the
British Parliament stepped in and, in one of those rare instances
where interference from the mother country actually benefited the
colonies, it forced them to cease the production of fiat money.
Henceforth, the Bank of England would be the only source.
What followed was unforeseen by the promoters of fiat money.
Amid great gloom about "insufficient money," a miracle boom of
prosperity occurred. The forced use of fiat money had compelled
everyone to hoard their real money and use the worthless paper
instead. Now that the paper was in disgrace, the colonists began to
use their English and French and Dutch gold coins once again,
prices rapidly adjusted to reality, and commerce returned to a solid
footing. It remained so even during the economic strain of the
Seven-Years War (1756-1763) and during the period immediately
prior to the Revolution. Here was a perfect example of how an
economic system in distress can recover if government does not
interfere with the healing process.
2
WARTIME INFLATION
But all of this came to a halt with the onset of colonial rebellion.
Not only did open hostilities throw England deeper into the cogs
and wheels of the central-bank mechanism, it also was the compel-
ling motive for the colonies to return to their printing presses. The
follOWing figures speak eloquently for themselves:
• At the beginning of the war in 1775, the total money supply for
the federated colonies stood at $12 million.
• In June of that year, the Continental Congress issued another
$2 million. Before the notes were printed, another $1 million
was authorized.
• By the end of the year, another $3 million.
1. Paul and Lehrman, p. 23.
2 .. Roger W. Weiss, "The Colonial Monetary Standard of Massachusetts," Economic
HIstory Review 27 (November 1974), p. 589. - .
312 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
• $19 million in 1776.
• $13 million in 1777.
• $64 million in 1778.
• $125 million in 1779.
• A total of $227 million in five years on top of a base of
$12 million is an increase of about 2000%.
• On top of this "federal" money, the states were doing the same
in an approximately equal amount.
• And still more: the Continental Army, unable to get enough
money from Congress, issued "certificates" for the purchase of
supplies totalling $200 million.
• $650 million created in five years on top of a base of $12 million
is an expansion of the money supply of over 5000%.1
Although the economy was devastated by this flood of fiat
money, most victims were totally unaware of the cause. In 1777, the
sentiment of a large segment of the population was expressed by
the words of one patriotic old lady who said: "What a shame it is
that Congress should let the poor soldiers suffer when they have
power to make just as much money as they choose.,,2
The immediate result of this money infusion was the appear-
ance of prosperity. After all, everyone had more money and that was
perceived as a very good thing. But this was quickly followed by
inflation as the self-destruct mechanism began to roll. In 1775, the
colonial monetary unit, called the Continental, was valued at
one-dollar in gold. In 1778, it was exchanged for twenty-five cents.
By 1779, just four years from its issue, it was worth less than a
penny and ceased to circulate as money at all. It was in that year
that George Washington wrote: "A wagon-load of money will
scarcely purchase a wagon-load of provisions.,,3
The saying "Not worth a Continental" has its origin in this
gloomy period.
1. For an overview of expenditures, see Paul and Lehrman, pp. 26-27.
2. Gouge, p. 28. The naivite of this lady may be humorous, but are Americans any
more enlightened today? Would she not feel at home among our modern-day
electorate who clamor for legislation to pump Federal-Reserve fiat money into
projects to alleviate hardship among the poor and unemployed?
3. Quoted by Bolles, Vol. I, p. 132.
THE LOST TREASURE MAP 313
The true nature of the inflation effect has never been more
accurately perceived or more vividly described than it was by
Thomas Jefferson:
It will be asked how will the two masses of Continental and of
State money have cost the people of the United States seventy-two
millions of dollars, when they are to be redeemed now with about six
million? I answer that the difference, being sixty-six millions, has been
lost on the paper bills separately by the successive holders of them.
Everyone, through whose hands a bill passed, lost on that bill what it
lost in value during the time it was in his hands. This was a real tax on
him; and in this way the people of the United States actually
contributed those sixty-six millions of dollars during the war, and by a
mode of taxation the most oppressive of all because the most unequal
of all.
1
PRICE CONTROLS AND LEGAL-TENDER LAWS
It was natural that people struggled to find ways to escape the
destruction of their savings, and the two most obvious methods
were (1) to regularly adjust prices upward as the value of the
money went downward or (2) exchange their goods and services
only for gold coins. In response, the colonial legislatures and the
Continental Congress did what governments always do to prevent
it They resorted to wage and price controls and to legal-tender
laws with harsh penalties for non-compliance. Under one such law,
those who refused to accept worthless money were even described
as traitors. It declared:
If any person shall hereafter be so lost to all virtue and regard for
his Country as to refuse to acceft its notes, such person shall be
deemed an enemy of his Country.
Rhode Island not only leveled a substantial fine for non-
acceptance of its notes but, upon a second offense, an individual
lost his citizenship. When this was declared unlawful by a panel of
jUdges, the legislature reacted by dismissing the judges from
office.
3
1. Thomas Jefferson, Observations on the Article Etats-Unis Prepared for the
Encyclopedia, June 22, 1786, Writings, Vol. IV, p. 165.
2. F. Tupper Saussy, The Miracle on Mainstreet (Sewanee, Tennessee: Spencer Judd,
19
80), p. 12. Also see Anthony Sutton, The War on Gold (Seal Beach, Calif.: '76 Press,
1977), pp. 47, 48.
3. Jensen, p. 324.
314 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
Then, as now, those who suffered the most from fiat money
were those who held the most trust in government. In 1777 these
were mostly the Whigs, for it was they who patriotically held paper
money and, as a result, lost their livelihoods and their life savings.
The Tories, on the other hand, mistrusting both government and its
paper money, passed the bills as quickly as possible in trade for
real assets, especially gold. Consequently, as a group, they weath-
ered the storm fairly well. But they often were derided by their less
prudent neighbors as "Torie speculators," "hoarders," and even
"traitors."
All of this was painfully fresh in the memories of the delegates
to the Constitutional Convention and, as the opening session
convened in Philadelphia in 1787, there were angry mobs in the
streets threatening the legislators. Looting was rampant. Businesses
were bankrupt. Drunkenness and lawlessness were everywhere to
be seen. The fruit of fiat money had ripened, and the delegates did
not enjoy its taste.
In October of 1785, George Washington wrote: "The wheels of
government are clogged, and ... we are descending into the vale of
confusion and darkness."l A year later, in a letter to James
Madison, he said: "No day was ever more clouded than the
present. We are fast verging to anarchy.,,2
In February of 1787, Washington wrote to Henry Knox:"If any
person had told me that there would have been such formidable
rebellion as exists, I would have thought him fit for a madhouse.,,3
Just three months prior to the opening of the convention,
Washington voiced his reasons for rejecting the notion of fiat
money. In answer to the complaint that there was not enough gold
coin (specie) to satisfy the needs of commerce, he replied:
The necessity arising from a want of specie is represented as
greater than it really is. I contend that it is by the substance, not the
shadow of a thing, we are to be benefited. The wisdom of man, in my
humble opinion, cannot at this time devise a plan by which the credit
of paper money would be long supported; consequently, depreciation
keeps pace with the quantity of the emission, and articles for which it
is exchanged rise in a greater ratio than the sinking value of the
money. Wherein, then, is the farmer, the planter, the artisan benefited?
1. Quoted by Atwood, p. 3.
2. Ibid., p. 4.
3. Ibid., p. 4.
THE LOST TREASURE MAP
315
An evil equally great is the door it immediately opens for speculation,
by which the least designing and perhaps most part of the
community are preyed upon by the more knowmg and crafty
1
speculators.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION . .
This was the prevailing view held by the great maJonty of
delegates to the Convention. They were adamant in their to
create a constitution which would prevent any state, and espeCIally
the federal government itself, from ever again issuing fiat money.
And they said so in unmistakable terms.
Oliver Ellsworth from Connecticut, who later was to become
our third Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, said:
This is a favorable moment to shut and bar the door against paper
money. The mischief of the various experiments which have been
made are now fresh in the public mind and have excited the disgust of
all the respectable parts of America.
2
George Mason from Virginia told the delegates he had a
"mortal hatred to paper money." Previously he had written to
George Washington: "They may pass a law to issue paper
but twenty laws will not make the people receive it. Paper money IS
founded upon fraud and knavery."
James Wilson from Pennsylvania said: "It will have the most
salutary influence on the credit of the United States to remove the
possibility of paper money."
John Langdon from New Hampshire warned that he would
rather reject the whole plan of federation than to grant the new
government the right to issue fiat money.
George Reed from Delaware declared that a in
Constitution granting the new government the right to Issue
money "would be as alarming as the mark of the beast In
Revelation."
Thomas Paine, although not a delegate to the Convention, had
written the previous year that he was strongly opposed to fiat
money, which he called counterfeiting by the state, and he espe-
cially abhorred legal tender laws which force people to accept the
1. Washington to Stone, 16 February, 1787. 9uoted by Bancroft, pp. .
2. For the context of this and the followmg statements expressmg a sllrular
sentiment, see Bancroft, pp. 30, 43-44, 82; also Paul and Lehrman, p. 168.
316 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
counterfeit. He said: "The punishment of a member [of a legisla-
ture] who should move for such a law ought to be death."
An interesting thought.
If any further evidence is needed that the Founding Fathers
intended to prohibit the federal government from issuing "bills of
credit," consider this. The first draft of the Constitution was copied
in large measure from the original Articles of Confederation. When
it was taken up for consideration by the delegates, therefore, it
contained the old provision that had caused so much chaos. It
stated: "The legislature of the United States shall have the power to
borrow money and emit bills of credit." But, after a lively discus-
sion on the matter, the offending provision was voted to be removed
from the Constitution by an overwhelming margin.
1
Voicing the
sentiment of the majority of the delegates, Alexander Hamilton
said: "To emit an unfunded paper as the sign of value ought not to
continue a formal part of the Constitution, nor ever hereafter to be
employed; being, in its nature, repugnant with abuses and liable to
be made the engine of imposition and fraud.,,2
The journal of the Convention for August 16 contains this
notation:
It was moved and seconded to strike out the words "and emit bills
of credit," and the motion ... passed in the affirmative. [The vote
cleared by a margin of better than four to one.]3
The Tenth Amendment states: "The powers not delegated to
the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The
power to issue bills of credit is definitely not delegated to the
United States, and it is specifically prohibited to the States. There-
fore, if any power to issue fiat money legally exists at all, it is
reserved for the people. In words, individuals and private
institutions, such as banks, have the right to issue IOUs and hope
that the public will use them as money, but government, at any level,
is clearly prohibited by the Constitution from doing so.
1. .summary of the interplay of ideas between the delegates, see
EdWin PIeces of EIght: The Monetary Powers and Disabilities of the United
States Constitution Jersey: Sound Dollar Committee, 1983), pp. 71-76.
2. Alexander HamIlton, Works, Part II, p. 271, as cited by Bancroft, p. 26.
3. Quoted by Bancroft, pp. 39,40.
THE LOST TREASURE MAP 317
A SUGGESTION FOR YOUR CONGRESSMAN
Incidentally, the Constitution has never been amended on this
point, nor has the provision that only silver and gold can be used as
lawful money. It would be interesting if each reader of this book
would send copies to his or her elected representatives in Washing-
ton, or at least a photocopy of this section. Every member of
Congress has sworn to uphold the Constitution, and you might
attach a short note asking them when they intend to begin.
Do not be disappointed if your reply is less than satisfactory.
politicians have a similar problem to that which judges have. It is
permissible to rock the boat from time to time, but they are not
supposed to sink it. Suits against the government challenging the
constitutionality of our monetary system seldom get to court. It is
safer for the justices to decline to accept these cases or to dismiss
them as supposedly "frivolous." Otherwise they would face a
difficult choice. Either they would have to mutilate logic in order to
uphold the present inconsistencies-thus, opening themselves to
possible ridicule-or they would have to declare in favor of the
Constitution and literally cause the collapse of the entire deficit-
spending, central-bank mechanism. Such an act would take a
considerable amount of courage. Not only would they suffer the
wrath of the Establishment that is nourished by that mechanism,
they also would have to face a beWildered public which, because of
lack of knowledge about the Constitution or the nature of money,
could easily be convinced that the judges had lost their minds.
Likewise, it is safer for politicians to respond to inquiries of this
kind merely by quoting some self-serving government document
which makes our fiat monetary system sound quite legal and
marvelously constitutional.
Unfortunately, that is reality. Until the public becomes consid-
erably better informed than it is at present, we cannot expect too
much from the courts or from Congress. Bringing this matter to the
attention of your elected representatives, however, is still well
worth the effort, because the process of education has to start
somewhere, and Washington is an excellent place to begin.
Returning to the point of this digression, however, it is impor-
tant to know that the federal government was given a precisely
limited monetary function: "to coin money" and to "regulate the
Value thereof." In view of the fact that gold and silver coin was
318 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
specifically defined as the only kind of money to be allowed, there
can be no doubt of what was meant by the first half of that power.
To coin money meant to mint precious-metal coins. Period.
The second half is equally clear. Both in the Constitution and in
the discussions among the delegates, the power to regulate the
value of gold and silver coin was closely tied to the power to
determine weights and measures. They are, in fact, one and the
same. To regulate the value of coin is exactly the same as to set the
nationally accepted value of a mile or a pound or a quart. It is to
create a standard against which a thing may be measured. The
wording of this section of the Constitution can be traced to the
original Articles of Confederation which further clarifies the mean-
ing that was generally understood at that time:
The United States in congress assembled shall . . . have the sole and
exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin
struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective
states-fixing the Standard of Weights and Measures throughout the
United States.
The intent, therefore, was simply for Congress to determine the
exact weight of a precious metal that would constitute the national
monetary unit.
THE ORIGIN OF THE DOLLAR
At the time of these deliberations, Spanish silver coins, called
pieces of eight, had already become the de facto monetary unit. An
official commission had been established by the Continental Con-
gress to sample the circulating coins in the country and determine
their average value by weight and purity. Charts were published,
and all coins of various origin were listed by comparative value.
Congress was already "regulating the value of" the nation's money
by the time the Constitution was drafted. How these coins became
dollars is an interesting story. Edwin Vieira tells us:
Monetary historians generally first associate the dollar with one
Count Schlick, who began striking such silver coins in 1519 in
Joachim's ThaI, Bavaria. Then called "Schlicktenthalers" 0 r
"Joachimsthalers," the coins became known simply as "thalers," which
transliterated into "dollars." Interestingly, the American colonies did
not adopt the dollar from England, but from Spain. Under that
country's monetary reform of 1497, the silver real became the Spanish
money-unit, or unit of account. A new coin consisting of eight reales
also appeared. Variously known as pesos, duros, piezas de ocho ("pieces
THE LOST TREASURE MAP 319
of eight"), or Spanish dollars (because of their similarity in weight and
fineness to the thaler), the coins quickly achieved predominance in
financial markets of the New World because of Spain's then-important
commercial and political position.]
In 1785, Thomas Jefferson urged the adoption of the Spanish
silver dollar as the nation's official monetary unit. In a pamphlet
submitted to the delegates of the Continental Congress, he said:
Taking into our view all money transactions, great and small, I
question if a common measure, of more convenient size than the
dollar, could be proposed ... . The unit or dollar is a known coin, and
the most familiar of all to the minds of people. It is already adopted
from south to north; has identified our currency, and therefore happily
offers itself as an unit already introduced.
2
On July 6, 1785, Congress unanimously voted to adopt the
Spanish dollar as the official monetary unit of the United States.
Jefferson realized, however, that this was not sufficient. Although
the coin had been one of the most dependable in terms of weight
and quality, it still varied in content between issues, and a way had
to be found to rate one coin in value against another. That was,
after all, the service that Congress was required to render when it
was given the power to "regulate the value" of money. Jefferson
came directly to the point when he said: "If we determine that a
dollar shall be our unit, we must then say with precision what a
dollar is. This coin as struck at different times, of different weight
and fineness, is of different values.,,3
The logic voiced by Jefferson could not be ignored. Two years
later, after carefully examining the actual weight and fineness of
the Spanish dollars currently in circulation, Congress defined the
dollar. After ratification of the Constitution, a dollar would contain
371.25 grains of fine silver, and all items in commerce, including
other coins, were to be measured in value against that standard.
As the Spaniards continued to reduce the silver content of their
coins, the pressure for the minting of an American dollar of
predictable value began to mount. Secretary of the Treasury,
Alexander Hamilton, in his 1791 report to Congress, urged the
1. Vieira, p. 66.
2. Propositions Respecting the Coinage of Gold, Silver, and Copper (printed pamphlet
presented to the Continental Congress on May 13, 1785), pp. 9-10. Cited by Vieira,
P·68.
3. Ibid., p. 11.
320 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
establishment ofa federal mint and also presented a powerful case
for maintaining an inviolable standard for the coins to be produced
by that mint. He said:
The dollar originally contemplated in the money transactions of
this country, by successive diminutions of its weight and fineness, has
sustained a depreciation of five per cent, and yet the new dollar has a
currency in all payments in place of the old, with scarcely any
attention to the difference between them. The operation of this in
depreciating the value of property depending upon past contracts,
and ... of all other property is apparent. Nor can it require argument to
prove that a nation ought not to suffer the value of the property of its
citizens to fluctuate with the fluctuations of a foreign mint, or to
change with the changes in the regulations of a foreign sovereign ....
The quantity of gold and silver in the national coins,
corresponding with a given sum, cannot be made less than heretofore
without disturbing the balance of intrinsic value, and making every
acre of land, as well as every bushel of wheat, of less actual worth than
in time past.... [This] could not fail to distract the ideas of the
community, and would be apt to breed discontent as well among those
who live on the income of their money as among the poorer classes of
the people to whom the necessities of life would ... become dearer.
1
BIMETALLISM
Note in the preceding quotation that Hamilton referred to both
gold and silver coins, not merely silver. That is because it was
precisely at this time that Congress began to consider a bimetallic
coinage. In retrospect, this was a mistake for, throughout history,
bimetallism has never worked well very long. It always has led to
confusion and, ultimately, the disappearance as money of one of the
metals. This is because there is always a subtle shifting of the
relative values between gold and silver---or any other two metals
for that matter--depending on constantly changing supply and
demand. We may set a value ratio of one to the other that is quite
acceptable today but, eventually, that ratio will no longer reflect
reality. The metal which grows in value over the other will be
hoarded or possibly even melted down because it will bring a
higher price as metal than it will as money.
That is precisely what happened in the early days of our
Republic. It was determined after careful analysis of the free-
1. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States O. Gales, compil.
1834), Appendix, pp. 2059, 2071-73. Cited by Vieira, pp. 95,97.
THE LOST TREASURE MAP 321
market that the value of gold at that time was approximately fifteen
times the value of silver. The Coinage Act of 1792 accordingly set
the relative value of gold-to-silver at fifteen-to-one. It then author-
ized the federal government to mint gold coins called Eagles, and it
specified that their value was ten dollars. In other words, the gold
coins would be equal in value to ten silver coins. Ten silver coins,
each of 371.25 grains of fine silver, would contain a total of 3,712.5
grains. The content of the Eagle, therefore, was one-fifteenth that
amount, or 247.5 grains of fine gold.
Contrary to popular misconception, Congress did not create a
"gold dollar." (It didn't do that until fifty-seven years later in The
Coinage Act of 1849.) In fact it reaffirmed that "the money of
account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars or units"
and again defined those units as coins containing 371.25 grains of
pure silver. What Congress did do was authorize the minting of a
gold coin and arbitrarily fix the value of the gold in that coin at
fifteen times the value of the dollar. And it also stated that all silver
and gold coins produced in the federal mint were to be legal tender
in accordance with their value, based on weight and purity, relative
to the standard of the silver dollar.
Oh yes, another thing. It set the death penalty for anyone who
debases the nation's coinage; a law which, if enforced today, would
wipe out the House of Representatives, the Senate, the managerial
level of the Treasury Department, and the Presidency as well.
FREE COINAGE
Perhaps the most important provision of this Act, however, was
the establishment of what is called free coinage. Under free coinage,
any citizen may take raw silver or gold to the mint and, for a
nominal fee, have it converted into coins for personal use. The
government merely performs a technical function of creating the
coin and stamping it with its insignia to certify the correct weight
and purity. The state's role in this is exactly the same as inspecting
the scales in a grocery store or the meter on a gasoline pump. It is
merely fulfilling the Constitutional requirement to set standards
and verify the accuracy of weights and measures.
Free coinage was to become an important part of the American
success story, and it lasted until the Gold Reserve Act of 1934
which, not only terminated it, but even made it illegal for citizens to
possess gold. We shall take a closer look at that dismal period in a
322 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
later section but, for now, it is important to recall the greatness of
our monetary system as it once was. Elgin Groseclose explains:
The principle of free coinage has proved its practical worth as a
deterrent to debasement and depreciation. Where coinage is on
private account there is no profit to the state in tampering with the
standard, and there is no opportunity for such practice by the
individual. The circulation of coins of similar appearance and
denomination but of uncertain standard, the arbitrary and
unpredictable modifications in the standard by autocratic
government, the temptations to profit which were constantly dangled
before despotic rulers-these were evils which had perplexed and
harassed society and hindered the natural growth of economy since
the days when coined money first appeared. By a stroke they were
swept away. At the same time, the institution of free coinage, by giving
stability and character to one of the chief instruments of organized
economy, made possible a more vigorous and healthy commercial life
and gave prestige and increased substance to the government
adopting it.
SOUND MONEY AND ECONOMIC PROSPERITY
This was, indeed, an auspicious beginning for the new nation,
and the result was immediately observable in an upsurge in
prosperity. The December 16, 1789 edition of the Pennsylvania
Gazette declared: "Since the federal constitution has removed all
danger of our having a paper tender, our trade is advanced fifty per
cent.,,2 But that was just the beginning. Historian Douglass North
says that "the years 1793-1808, were years of unparalleled prosper-
ity.,,3 Louis Hacker describes the period as one "of unexampled
business expansion, one of the greatest, in fact, the United States
has had .... The exports of the country mounted from $19 millions
in 1791 to $93 millions in 1801.,,4 Furthermore, the federal deficit,
which amounted to twenty-eight per cent of expenditures in 1792,
dropped to twenty-one per cent in 1795. By 1802, the deficit had
disappeared altogether and had been replaced by a surplus that
was almost as large as the total spending.
. George Washington watched this economic miracle with great
satisfaction and, in correspondence to his friend, Lafayette, the
1. Groseclose, Money and Man, p. 167.
2. Quoted by Saussy, p. 36.
3. Douglass C. North, The Economic Growth of the United States (New York: W.W.
Norton, 1%6), p. 53.
4. Louis M. Hacker, American Capitalism (New York: Anvil, 1957), p. 39.
THE LOST TREASURE MAP 323
French statesman and former General in the Continental Army,
Washington commented: "Our country, my dear sir, ... is fast
progressing in its political importance and In a
letter to Catherine Macaulay Graham, he sald: The Uruted States
enjoys a sense of prosperity and tranquility under the new govern-
ment that could hardly have been hoped for." And in a letter to the
American poet and diplomat, David Humphreys, Washington
exclaimed: "Our public credit stands on that high ground which
three years ago it would have been considered as a species of
madness to have foretold."l
On the specific subject of paper money without backing by gold
or silver, Washington wrote:
We may one day become a great commercial and flourishing
nation. But if in the pursuit of the means we should unfortunately
stumble again on unfunded paper money or any similar species of
fraud, shall assuredly give a fatal stab to our national credit in its
infancy.
This, then, was the monetary blueprint laid down by the men
who drafted our Constitution. In retrospect, about the only flaw
one can find was the attempt to set a fixed ratio between the value
of gold and silver. Rather than placing a dollar value on a gold coin,
the mint should have imprinted the gold value in terms of weight
and fineness. The free market then would have assigned it an
exchange value in terms of goods and services, and that automat-
ically would have determined its correct monetary value as a ratio to
the silver dollars which were bidding for the purchase of the same
items. It was inevitable, therefore, that soon after the "ten-dollar"
Eagle was created, the value of gold over silver began to climb
higher than the prescribed ratio of fifteen-to-one, and the Eagles
ceased to circulate. In later years, with the discovery of the great
gold fields in California and Australia, the process reversed itself,
and silver dollars disappeared from commerce. But, even though
this bimetallism led to a discrepancy between the actual conversion
ratio and that which the government had prescribed, nevertheless,
it took place in the open market and no one was greatly injured by
the inconvenience. Throughout it all, there was just one standard:
1. These letters were written in 1790 and 1791, quoted by Atwood, pp. 5-6.
2. Written in 1789, quoted by Louis Basso, A Treatise on Monetary Reform (St. Louis,
Missouri: Monetary Realist Society, 1982), p. 5.
324 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
the defined silver content of a dollar. Furthermore, both the silver
and gold coins were of intrinsic value and totally honest in their
measure. No nation could do more for the prosperity of its citizens
than that.
SUMMARY
The Constitution prohibits both the states and the federal
government from issuing fiat money. This was the deliberate intent
of the Founding Fathers who had bitter experience with fiat money
before and especially during the Revolutionary War. In response to
the need to have a precisely defined national monetary unit,
Congress adopted the Spanish dollar then currently in use and
defined the content of that dollar to be 371.25 grains of pure silver.
With the establishment of a federal mint, American silver dollars
were issued in accordance with that standard, and gold Eagles also
were produced which were then equal in value to ten silver dollars.
Most importantly, free coinage was established wherein Americans
were able to convert their raw silver and gold into national coins
officially certified by the government as to their intrinsic value. The
product of these measures was a period of sound money and great
economic prosperity, a period that would come to an end only
when the next generation of Americans forgot to read their history
and returned to the use of paper money and "bills of credit."
The monetary plan laid down by the Founding Fathers was the
product of collective genius. Nowhere in history can one find so
many men in one legislative body who understood the fraud
inherent in fiat money and the hidden-taxation nature of inflation.
There was never such an assembly of scholars and statesmen
determined to set a safe course for the nation of their own creation.
Literally, they handed us a treasure map. All we had to do was
follow it to economic security and national prosperity. But, as we
shall see in the following sections, that map was discarded when
the lessons of history died out with th.:..se who had lived it.
Chapter Sixteen
THE CREATURE
COMES TO AMERICA
The story of the Bank of North America, the
nation's first central bank, which was formed even
before the Constitution was drafted; the story of
the First Bank of the United States, the nation's
second central bank, which was formed in 1791;
the massive inflation caused by both banks; the
causes of their demise.
It is a surprising fact that the United States had its first central
bank even before the Constitution was drafted. It was chartered by
the Continental Congress in the Spring of 1781 and opened its
doors the following year. There were great expectations at that time
that the province of Canada would soon join the rebel colonies to
form a union extending across the entire North American conti-
nent. In anticipation of that, the new financial institution was called
the Bank of North America.
The Bank was organized by Robert Morris, a member of
Congress, who was a leader of a group of politicians and merchants
who wanted the new nation to imitate the mercantilism of England.
They wanted high taxes to support a powerful, centralized govern-
ment, high tariffs to subsidize domestic industry, a large army and
navy, and the acquisition of colonial outposts to expand into
foreign lands and markets. He was a wealthy Philadelphia mer-
chant who had profited greatly from war contracts during the
Revolution. He had carefully studied the secret science of money
and, by 1781, was widely considered to be the financial wizard of
Congress.
The Bank of North America was modeled closely after the Bank
of England. Following the practice of fractional reserve, it was
allowed to issue paper promissory notes in excess of actual
depOSits, but, since some gold and silver had to be held in the vault,
326 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
there were definite limits to how far that process could go. Bank
notes were not forced on the people as legal tender for all debts,
public and private, but the government did agree to accept them at
their face value in payment of all taxes and duties, which made them
as good as gold for that specific purpose. Furthermore, unlike the
central banks of today, the Bank of North America was not given
the power to directly issue the nation's money.
FUNCTIONED AS A CENTRAL BANK
On the other hand, the Bank was given the right of monopoly in
its field, which means there were no other bank notes allowed to
circulate in competition. This, plus the fact that they were accepted
at face value in payment of all federal and state taxes, plus the
further fact that the federal government did not at that time have a
functioning money of its own, made these bank notes attractive for
use as a circulating medium of exchange. The intended result was
that the Bank's paper would be accepted as money, which for a
while, it was. Furthermore, the Bank was made the official deposi-
tory for all federal funds and it almost immediately loaned
$1.2 million to the government, much of which was created out of
nothing for that purpose. So, in spite of the limitations placed upon
the Bank, and in spite of the fact that it was essentially a private
institution, it was intended to be and, in fact, did function as a
central bank.
The Bank of North America was fraudulent from the very start.
The charter required that private investors provide $400,000 for the
initial subscription. When Morris was unable to raise that money,
he used his political influence to make up the shortfall out of
government funds. In a maneuver that was nothing less than
legalized embezzlement, he took the gold that had been loaned to
the United States from France and had it deposited in the Bank.
Then, using this as a fractional-:2serve base, he simply created the
money that was needed for the subscription and loaned it to
himself and his associates. Such is the power of the secret science.
1
It is hard to reconcile the fact that the same men who adopted
the brilliant monetary restraints of the Constitution a few years
later would have allowed the Bank of North America to exist. It
must be remembered, however, that the war was still in progress
1. See Murray N. Rothbard, Conceived in Liberty: The Revolutionary War, 1775-1784
(New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1979), Vol. IV, p. 392.
THE CREATURE COMES TO AMERICA 327
when the charter was issued, and even the wisest of statesmen are
often obliged to follow expediency in such times. One also must
conclude that, while the founding fathers were wise on the nature
of fiat money created by the government's printing press, they had
not yet had extensive experience with the same mechanism hidden
behind the obscurities of fractional-reserve banking.
In any event, the Bank was not to have its charter renewed by
Congress and it did not survive beyond the end of the war. Murray
Rothbard details its demise:
Despite the monopoly privileges conferred upon the Bank of
North America and its nominal redeemability in specie, the market's
lack of confidence in the inflated notes led to their depreciation outside
the Bank's home base in Philadelphia. The Bank even tried to bolster
the value of its notes by hiring people to urge redeemers of its notes
not to insist on specie-a move scarcely calculated to improve the
long-run confidence in the Bank.
After a year of operation, Morris's political power slipped, and he
moved quickly to shift the Bank of North America from a central bank
to a purely commercial bank chartered by the state of Pennsylvania. By
the end of 1783,. .. the first experiment with a central bank in the United
States had ended.
1
A fitting epilogue to this story was written two hundred years
later when, in 1980, the First Pennsylvania Bank of Philadelphia,
the "oldest bank in the nation," was bailed out by the FDIC.
AN END RUN AROUND THE CONSTITUTION
It will be recalled that, after the Bank of North America was
terminated and after the Constitutional Convention "closed the
door on paper money," the United States enjoyed a period of
unparalleled economic growth and prosperity. But, while the door
may have been closed, the window was still open. Congress was
denied the power to print money, but it was not denied the power
to borrow it.
In the vocabulary of the common man, to borrow is to accept a
loan of something that already exists. He is confused, therefore,
When the banker issues money out of nothing and then says he is
lending it. He appears to be lending but, in reality, he is creating.
Then, as now, the mysteries of banking vocabulary were not
revealed to the average man, and it was difficult to understand
1. Rothbard, Mystery, pp. 194- 95.
328
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
how privately-issued bank notes could serve precisely the same
purpose as printing-press money-with precisely the same disas-
trous results. That being the case, the monetary and political
scientists decided to end run the Constitution. Their plan was to
establish a bank, to give that bank the power to create money, to
lend most of that money to the government, and then to make sure
the IOUs are accepted as money by the public. Congress, therefore,
would not be emitting bills of credit. The bank would do that.
Thus, the First Bank of the United States was conceived.
The proposal was submitted to Congress in 1790 by Alexander
at that time, was Secretary of the Treasury.
Hamilton, mCldentally, was a former aide to Robert Morris, foun-
der of the Bank of North America, so in that sense his role in this
matter is not surprising. What is surprising is the fact that Hamilton
had a staunch supporter of a sound currency during the
ConstItUtional Convention. This is hard to reconcile, and one must
suspect that, even the most well intentioned of men can become
corrupted by the temptations of wealth and power. It is possible
that Hamilton, Morris, and other Federalist leaders had hoped to
keep the government out of the money-making business, not
because it was the constitutional thing to do, but because that
would leave the field clear for a central-bank mechanism which
because it was further from public view and political control, could
become their own private engine of profit. It would appear that the
only other explanation is that these men were fickle in their views
and did not really understand the implications of their acts. In view
of their brilliance in all other matters, however, it is difficult to
muster enthusiasm for that interpretation.
THE HAMILTON-JEFFERSON CONFLICT
Hamilton's proposal was strongly opposed by Thomas
Jefferson, then Secretary of State, and this was the beginning of a
heated political debate that would preoccupy Congress for many
decades to come. In fact, it was one of the central issues that led to
the creation of our first political parties. The Federalists gathered
around the ideas of Hamilton. The anti-Federalists, later called the
Republicans, were attracted to the ideas of Jefferson.
1
1. Curiously, the present Democratic Party traces its origin to Jefferson's Republi-
cans.
THE CREATURE COMES TO AMERICA 329
Jefferson pointed out that the Constitution did not grant to
Congress the power to create a bank or anything similar. That
means such power is reserved to the states or to the people. In a
rebuttal to Hamilton's proposal, he said: liTo take a single step
beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of
Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no
longer susceptible of any definition."l Furthermore, he said, even if
the Constitution had granted such power, it would be an extremely
unwise thing to do, because allowing banks to create money could
only lead to national ruin.
Hamilton, on the other hand, argued that debt was a good
thing, if kept within reason, and that the nation needed more
money in circulation to keep up with expanding commerce. Only
the Bank, he said, would be able to provide that. Furthermore,
while it is true the Constitution did not specifically grant the power
to create such a bank, it was, nevertheless, an implied power,
because it was needed to accomplish other functions which were
granted in the Constitution.
That was the end run.
Nothing could be more polarized than the opposing ideas of
these two men:
JEFFERSON: "A private central bank issuing the public currency is a
greater menace to the liberties of the people than a standing army."2
"We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.,,3
HAMILTON: "No society could succeed which did not unite the
interest and credit of rich individuals with those of the state.,,4 "A
national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing."S
AMERICA'S SECOND CENTRAL BANK IS CREATED
After a year of intense debate, Hamilton's views prevailed and,
in 1791, Congress granted a twenty-year charter to the Bank of the
1. "Opinion of Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State," February 15, 1791, quoted by
Krooss, pp. 147-48.
2. The comparison between private banks and standing armies can be found in
many of Jefferson's letters and public utterances. For example, see The Writings of
Thomas Jefferson (New York: G.P. Putnam & Sons, 1899), Vol. X, p. 31.
3. The Basic Writings of Thomas Jefferson (Willey Book Company, 1944), p. 749.
4. Quoted by Arthur M. SchleSinger, Jr., The Age of Jackson (New York: Mentor
Books, 1945), pp. 6-7.
5. Written on April 30, 1781, to his mentor, Robert Morris. Quoted by John H.
Makin, The Global Debt Crisis: America's Growing Involvement (New York: Basic
Books, 1984), p. 246.
330 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
United States. It was modelled closely after the Bank of England,
which means it was almost an exact replica of the previous Bank of
North America. In fact, as evidence of continuity with the past, the
president of the new bank was Thomas Willing, the same man who
had been a partner of Robert Morris and president of the old bank.
1
As before, the new Bank was given a monopoly in the issuance
of bank notes. Once again, these notes were not forced on the
people as legal tender for private debts and contracts, but they-were
legal tender at face value for all debts to the government in the form
of taxes and duties, which made them attractive for use as common
money. And once again, the Bank was made the official depository
of all federal funds.
The charter specified that the Bank was required at all times to
redeem its notes in gold or silver specie upon demand by the
depositor. That was an admirable provision but, since the Bank was
not also required to keep specie in its vaults in the full amount of its
note obligations, it was a mathematical impossibility to uphold.
As with the old Bank of North America, the new Bank of the
United States was to have eighty per cent of its capital provided by
private investors with the federal government putting up only
twenty per cent. That was a mere bookkeeping sleight-of-hand,
however, because it had been prearranged for the Bank to immedi-
ately loan back to the federal government exactly that same
amount. Reminiscent of the Morris scheme in capitalizing the Bank
of North America, this federal "investment" was essentially a
means whereby federal funds could be used to make up the
short-fall of the private investors. "Call it by what name you
please," said Jefferson, this was not a loan or an investment but an
outright gift. And he was certainly right. The Bank was able to open
its doors with less than nine per cent of the private capital required
by its charter. The total capitalization was specified at $10 million,
which means that $8 million was to come from private stockhold-
ers. However, as John Kenneth Galbraith wryly observed: "Numer-
ous thrifty participants confined themselves to a modest down
payment, and the bank began operations on around $675,000 in
hard cash.,,2
1. It is interesting to note that, as a member of the Continental Congress, Willing
had been one of those who voted against the Declaration of Independence.
2. Galbraith, p. 72
THE CREATURE COMES TO AMERICA
331
THE CREATURE COMES FROM EUROPE
Who were these private investors? Their names do not appear
in the published literature, but we can be c e ~ they inclu?-ed the
Congressmen and Senators-and their assocIates-who engmeered
the charter. But there is an interesting line in Galbraith's text that
hints at another dimension to the composition of this group. On
page 72 of Money: Whence It Came, Where It Went, he states
matter-of-factly: "Foreigners could own shares but not vote them."
What a story is hidden behind that innocuous statement. The
blunt reality is that the Rothschild banking dynasty in Europe was
the dominant force, both financially and politically, in the forma-
tion of the Bank of the United States. Biographer, Derek Wilson,
explains:
Over the years since N.M. [Rothschild], the Manchester textile
manufacturer, had bought cotton from the Southern states,
Rothschilds had developed heavy American commitments. Nathan ...
had made loans to various states of the Union, had been, for a time, the
official European banker for the US government and was a pledged
supporter of the Bank of the United States.
1
Gustavus Myers, in his History of the Great American Fortunes, is
more pointed. He says:
Under the surface, the Rothschilds long had a powerful influence
in dictating American financial laws. The law records show that they
were the power in the old Bank of the United States.
2
The Rothschilds, therefore, were not merely investors nor just
an important power. They were the power behind the Bank of the
United States! The significance of the Rothschild power in Ameri-
can finance and politics was the subject of extensive comment. in a
previous section, SO there is no need to cover that ground agam. It
is important here, however, to at least make a mental note of t.he
fact that the Creature from Jekyll Island is descended from a specIes
that is not native to this land.
INFLATION ALL OVER AGAIN
From the beginning, the primary purpose of the Bank was to
create money for the federal government. Money for the private
1. Derek Wilson, p. 178.
2 Gustavus Myers, History of the Great American Fortunes (New York: Random
House, 1936), p. 556.
332 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
sector was strictly secondary. That was made clear by the fact that
the maximum rate of interest it was allowed to charge was six per
cent. That made it impractical to make loans to anyone except the
federal government and a few large, prime-rate borrowers. And the
government wasted no time putting its new central-bank mecha-
nism to work. Having "invested" $2 million at the start, it con-
verted that into $8.2 million borrowed within the next five years.
Which means that $6.2 million was created specifically for its use.
Anyone familiar with the history of money as outlined in the
previous section could easily write the following paragraph.
The creation of millions of new fractional-reserve dollars,
which the government pushed into the economy through spending
programs, caused an imbalance between the supply of money and
the supply of goods and services. Prices appeared to go up as the
relative value of the dollar went down. In that same five-year
period, wholesale prices rose by 72%, which is another way of
saying that 42% of everything people had saved in the form of
money was quietly confiscated by the government through the
hidden tax called inflation.
The same inflation effect that previously had plagued the
colonies now returned to plague the new generation. This time,
instead of being caused by printing-press money, it was fractional-
reserve money. The cog that linked the two mechanisms together
and caused them to function as one was federal debt. It was federal
debt that allowed the political and monetary scientists to violate the
intent of the founding fathers, and it was this same federal debt that
prompted Jefferson to exclaim:
I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our
Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the
reduction of the administration of our government to the general
principle of the Constitution; I mean an additional article, taking from
the federal government their power of borrowing.
1
Like so many things in the real world, the Bank of the United
States was a mixture of evil with some good. It certainly was not all
bad. In colonial times, the state governments printed as much
paper money as they pleased, and the loss of purchasing power
was, in many cases, total. The Bank, on the other hand, was
1. Letter to John Taylor, November 26, 1789. Quoted by Martin A. Larson, The
Continuing Tax Rebellion (Old Greenwich, Connecticut: Devin-Adair, 1979), p. xii.
THE CREATURE COMES TO AMERICA 333
required to maintain some gold and specie as a base for its pyramid
of money. Even though it was an inverted pyramid with reserves
being smaller than the quantity of bank notes, it still represented a
boundary to just how far the money supply could be expanded.
And that was good.
Furthermore, it is apparent that the bank's directors were
imbued with a certain amount of enlightened self interest in that
they actually wanted to keep the creation of new money within
some kind of control. They could profit from the central-bank
mechanism only so long as the economy as a whole was productive
enough to support it. They did not want to kill the goose that laid
the golden egg. So, like their counterparts in the Federal Reserve
System of our modern day, they spoke the language of restraint
and, in a few instances, even acted with restraint as well.
WILDCAT BANKS
For example, it was during this period that "wildcat banks"
began to flourish. They were given that name not because they
were untamed-although that would have been another good
reason to do so-but because they were located in areas so remote
in the frontier that it was said their only customers were wildcats.
Wildcat banks were not noted for meticulous accounting or
business practices. Like all banks at that time, they were required to
keep a certain portion of their deposits on hand in the form of gold
or silver coin. To engender public confidence in their faithfulness to
that obligation, it was common practice to keep the vault door open
so a keg or two of gold coins could be viewed during business
hours-not altogether different from the modern practice of finan-
cial institutions advertising how many billions in assets they hold
but never mentioning the size of their liabilities. The wildcatters,
however, were not reluctant to sprinkle a few precious-metal coins
over the top of nails and let that take care of public relations. In
some cases, as state examiners went from bank to bank to check the
reserves, the gold would arrive only a few minutes ahead of them,
having been rushed from the vault of the bank previously audited.
The point is that the Bank of the United States was able to place
considerable restraint upon the practices of all banks, both wildcat
and urban. It did this simply by refusing to accept the notes of any
other bank unless it had a reputation for redeeming those notes in
specie on demand. The public reacted accordingly. If the notes
334 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
were not good enough for the Bank of the United States, they were
not good enough for them either. This served as an indirect force of
moderation that affected all banks of that time. And that, too, was
good.
Some historians have said that the Bank was a positive force in
yet another way. Galbraith, for example, writes admiringly:
On occasion, the Bank of the United States came to the assistance
of good state banks that were being besieged by their note holders or
other creditors. So, besides enforcing restraint, it served also as the
lender of last resort. Thus in its short span of life it went far to perceive
and develop the basic regulatory functions of a central bank.
1
One who is less enamored with the idea of a central bank
would be tempted to ask: If those state banks were so "good," why
did they need assistance in keeping faith with their depositors? The
whole idea of a "lender of last resort," which is accepted as sacred
dogma today, is based or). the assumption that it is perfectly
acceptable for the entire banking system to be fraudulent. It is
assumed that any single bank or cluster of banks could at any time
become "besieged by their note holders or other creditors." There-
fore, it is prudent to have a central bank to take what meager
reserves there are within the system and rush them from bank to
bank, if not minutes before the examiner arrives, at least before the
customers do.
As for the much talked about restraint exercised over other
banks, it is not unreasonable to think that this same effect would
have developed even without the presence of a government bank.
If the free market had been left to operate, it is certain that, before
long, one or more banks would gain a deserved reputation for
honesty and full faith with their depositors. They would become
the most popular banks and, therefore, the most prosperous. In
order to accomplish this, however, they would have to reject the
worthless notes of other banks. The public would react as expected,
and even the most unscrupulous banks would have to toe the line if
they wanted to survive. Moderation would be forced on the entire
banking system as a result of open competition within a free
market. To assume that only a federally-chartered central bank
could have brought moderation into the monetary system is to
1. Galbraith, p. 73.
THE CREATURE COMES TO AMERICA 335
believe that only politicians, bureaucrats, and agencies of govern-
ment can act with integrity, a shaky notion at best.
AN INSTRUMENT OF PLUTOCRACY
In any event, there is no denying the fact that the Bank of the
United States did provide some braking force to the runaway
tendencies of many of the nation's private banks. So it could have
been worse. The inflation that it caused by its own activities could
have been enlarged even further by the activities of the other banks
as well. But, that it could have been worse does not make it good.
As it was, the Bank was the means by which the American people
lost forty-two per cent of the value of all the money they earned or
possessed during just those five years. We must not forget, either,
that this confiscation of property was selective. It did not work
against the wealthy classes which were able to ride the wave of
inflation aboard the raft of tangible property which they owned.
And it especially did not work against those elite few, the political
and monetary scientists, who were making huge profits from the
enterprise. The Bank had done precisely what Hamilton had
advocated: " ... unite the interest and credit of rich individuals with
those of the state."
The development of this plutocracy was well described by
Governeur Morris, the former delegate from New York who had
helped to draft the Constitution into its final form. He had been an
assistant to Robert Morris (not related) and was a champion of the
concept of a natural aristocracy. So he knew his subject well when
he warned:
The rich will strive to establish their dominion and enslave the
rest. They always did. They always will .... They will have the same
effect here as elsewhere, if we do not, by such a government, keep
them within their proper spheres. We should remember that the
people never act from reason alone. The rich will take advantage of
their passions, and make these the instruments for oppressing them.
The result of the contest will be a violent aristocracy, or a more violent
d
. 1
espotism.
The tide of political pressure against the Bank was steadily
rising during these years. It is tempting for critics of the central-
bank mechanism to attribute that to the awakening common sense
L Written on July 2, 1787, in a letter to James Madison. Quoted in "Prosperity
Economics," by W. Cleon Skousen, Freeman Digest, February, 1985, p. 9.
336
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
of the American public. Unfortunately, the picture is not that
pleasing. It is true that the Jeffersonian Republicans were elo-
quently holding forth against the Creature's progenitor, and their
influence was substantial. But there was another group that joined
with them which had almost exactly opposite ideas and goals. The
Jeffersonians opposed the Bank because they believed it was
unconstitutional and because they wanted a monetary system
based only upon gold and silver coin. The other group was made
up of the wildcatters, the land speculators, and the empire-building
industrialists. They opposed the Bank because they wanted a
monetary system with no restraints at all, not even those associated
with fractional reserve. They wanted every local bank to be free to
create as much paper money as the public would swallow, because
they would then use that money for their own projects and profit.
Indeed, politics does produce strange bedfellows.
As the time approached for renewal of the Bank's charter, the
battle lines inched toward each other. They were of equal force. The
halls of Congress echoed with the cannon roar of angry debate. The
vote was deadlocked. Another attack and counter attack. Again a
deadlock. Into the night the forces clashed.
When the smoke of battle lifted, the bill for charter renewal had
been defeated by one vote in the House and one vote, cast by
Vice-President George Clinton to break the tie, in the Senate. And
so, on January 24, 1811, the Bank of the United States closed its
doors.
The battle may have been decided, but the war was far from
over. The losers, bitter with defeat, merely regrouped their forces
and began to prepare for the next encounter. Unfortunately, the
events that followed were ideally suited for their plans.
With the moderating effect of the Bank no"," removed from the
scene, the nation's banking system passed wholly into the hands of
the state-chartered corporations, many of which were imbued with
the wildcat mentality. Their numbers grew rapidly, and so did the
money supply which they created. Inflation followed in their
footsteps. Public dissatisfaction began to rise.
If the free market had been allowed to operate, it is likely that
competition soon would have weeded out the wildcatters and
restored balance to the system, but it was never given a chance. The
War of 1812 saw to that.
THE CREATURE COMES TO AMERICA 337
THE WAR OF 1812
The War of 1812 was one of the most senseless wars in history.
The primary cause, we are told, was the British impressment into
their navy of American sailors on the high seas to assist in the war
against Napoleonic France. But the French had done exactly the
same thing to assist in the war against England, yet their acts were
ignored. Furthermore, the British had already rescinded their
policy regarding American seamen before the war was underway,
which means that the cause of the war had been removed, and
peace could have been restored in honor if Congress had so
wanted. One must conclude that the pro-banking interests in the
United States actually wanted the conflict because of the profits that
could be realized from it. As evidence of this is the fact that the
New England states, which were home to the seamen who had
been impressed into service, were firmly against the war, while the
Western and inland Southern states, which were home to the
myriad of wildcat banks, howled loudly for a clash of arms.
In any event, the war was unpopular with the average citizen,
and it was out of the question for Congress to obtain funding for
armaments through an increase in taxes. So the government needed
the state banks to create that money outside the tax structure and
came to their rescue to protect them from the discipline of the free
market. It was a classic case of the unholy alliance, the cabal, that
always develops between political and monetary scientists. Profes-
sor Rothbard gives the details:
The U.S. government encouraged an enonnous expansion in the
number of banks and in bank notes and deposits to purchase the
growing war debt. These new and recklessly inflationary banks in the
Middle Atlantic, Southern, and Western states, printed enonnous
quantities of new notes to purchase government bonds. The federal
government then used these notes to purchase arms and
manufactured goods in New England ....
By August 1814, it became clear that the banks of the nation apart
from New England could not pay [in specie], that they were insolvent.
Rather than allow the banks of the nation to fail, the governments,
state and federal, decided in August 1814 to allow the banks to
continue in business while refusing to redeem their obligations in
specie. In other words, the banks were allowed to refuse to pay their
solemn contractual obligations ....
This general suspension was not only highly inflationary at the
time; it set a precedent for all financial crises from then on. Whether
338 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
~ h e u.s. had a central bank or not, the banks were assured that if they
mflated together and then got in trouble, government would bail them
out. I
The state banks had created enough instant money for the
federal government to raise the debt from $45 million to $127
million, a staggering sum for the fledgling nation. Tripling the
money supply, with no appreciable increase in goods, means the
value of the dollar shrank to about one-third its former purchasing
power. By 1814, when the depositors began to awake to the scam
and demanded their gold instead of paper, the banks closed their
doors and had to hire extra guards to protect officials and employ-
ees from the angry crowds. Once again, the monetary and political
scientists had succeeded in fleecing the American public of
approximately 66% of all the money they held during that period,
and that was on top of the 42% fleecing they got a few years earlier
by the Bank of the United States.
JUGGLING TRICKS AND BANKING DREAMS
Leaning against the storm of paper money all this time was
Thomas Jefferson, by now, past-President of the United States.
Trying to bring the nation to its senses, he never ceased speaking
out against the evil of dishonest money and debt:
Although all the nations of Europe have tried and trodden every
path of force and folly in a fruitless quest of the same object, yet we still
expect to find in juggling tricks and banking dreams, that money can
be made out of nothing, and in sufficient quantity to meet the expense
of heavy war.2 ...
The toleration of banks of paper discount costs the United States
one-half of
3
their war taxes; or, in other words, doubles the expenses of
everywar ....
The crisis, then, of the abuses of banking is arrived. The banks
have pronounced their own sentence of death. Between two and three
hundred millions of dollars of their promissory notes are in the hands
of the people, for solid produce and property sold, and they [the
banks] formally declare that they will not pay them .... Paper was
received on a belief that it was cash [gold], and such scenes are now to
take place as will open the eyes of credulity and of insanity itself to the
1. Rothbard, Mystery, pp. 198-99.
2. Writings, Library Edition, Vol. XIV, p. 227.
3. Writings, Library Edition, Vol. XIII, p. 364.
THE CREATURE COMES TO AMERICA 339
dangers of a liaper medium abandoned to the discretion of avarice and
of swindlers. . ..
It is a wise rule never to borrow a dollar without laying a tax at the
same instant for paying the interest annually and the principal within
a given term.
2
... We shall consider ourselves unauthorized to saddle
posterity with our debts, and morally bound to pay them ourselves.
3
... The earth belongs to the living, not the dead .... We may consider
each generation as a distinct nation
4
with a right to ... bind themselves,
but not the succeeding generation ....
The modern theory of the perpetuation of debt has drenched the
earth with blood, and crushed its inhabitants under burdens ever
I
· 5
accumu atmg.
And still, Congress did not listen.
SUMMARY
America had its first central bank even before the Constitution
was drafted. It was called the Bank of North America and was
chartered by the Continental Congress in 1781. Modeled after the
Bank of England, it was authorized to issue more paper promissory
notes than it held in deposits. In the beginning, these notes were
widely circulated and served as a national currency. Although the
bank was essentially a private institution, it was designed for the
purpose of creating money to lend to the federal government,
which it did from the start.
The Bank of North America was riddled with fraud, and it
quickly fell into political disfavor. Its inflated bank notes eventually
were rejected by ordinary citizens and ceased to circulate outside of
the Bank's home city of Philadelphia. Its charter was allowed to
expire and, in 1783, it was converted into a purely commercial bank
chartered by the state of Pennsylvania.
The advocates of fiat money did not give up. In 1791, the First
Bank of the United States (America's second central bank) was
created by Congress. The new bank was a replica of the first,
including fraud. Private investors in the Bank were among the
nation's most wealthy and influential citizens, including some
Congressmen and Senators. But the largest investment and the
1. Letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, Sept. 10, 1814, Writings, Library Edition, Vol. XIV,
pp.187-89.
2. Writings, Library Edition, Vol. XIII, p. 269.
3. Ibid, p. 358.
4. Ibid., p. 270.
5. Ibid., p. 272.
340 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
most powerful influence in the new Bank came from the
Rothschilds in Europe.
The Bank set about immediately to serve its function of creating
money for the government. This led to a massive inflation of the
money supply and rising prices. In the first five years, 42% of
everything people had saved in the form of money was confiscated
through the hidden tax called inflation. This was the same phe-
nomenon that had plagued the colonies less than two decades
earlier, but instead of being caused by printing-press money, it was
now fueled by fractional-reserve bank notes created by a central
bank.
As the time for renewal of the Bank's charter approached, two
groups with opposite intentions became strange political allies
against it: the Jeffersonians who wanted sound money; and the
frontier banks, called wildcatters, who wanted unlimited license to
steal. On January 24,1811, the charter was defeated by one vote in
the Senate and one in the House. The central bank was gone, but
the wildcatters were everywhere.
The War of 1812 was not popular among the American public,
and funding would have been impossible through taxes alone. The
government chose to fund the war by encouraging wildcat banks to
purchase its war-debt bonds and convert them into bank notes
which the government then used to purchase war material. Within
two years, the nation's money supply had tripled, and so had
prices. Once again, the monetary and political scientists had
succeeded in fleecing the American public of approximately 66% of
all the money they held during that period. And that was on top of
the 42% fleecing they got a few years earlier by the Bank of the
United States.
Chapter Seventeen
A DEN OF VIPERS
The story of the Second Bank of the United States,
the nation's third central bank; the election of
Andrew Jackson on an anti-bank platform; the
battle between President Jackson and the head of
the bank, Nicholas Biddle; the deliberate creation
of a depression to frighten the public into keeping
the bank; Jackson's ultimate victory.
The monetary chaos that existed at the end of the War of 1812,
outlined in the previous chapter, was caused by an almost univer-
sal fraud within the banking industry. Depositors in good faith
placed their gold and silver into banks for safekeeping and for the
convenience of using paper money in their everyday transactions.
The banks, in turn, promised them they could exchange the paper
for their coins whenever they wished. At the same time, however,
through the mechanism of fractional-reserve banking, paper
money was created far in excess of the value of the coins held in
reserve. Since the new money had just as much claim to the coins as
the old, the bankers knew that, if a sizable percentage of their
customers were to request a withdrawal of their coins, that solemn
promise simply could not be kept. This, in fact, is precisely what
happened over and over again during that period.
By 1814, Thomas Jefferson had retired to Monticello and had
bitterly resigned himself to defeat on the issue of money. In a letter
to John Adams he said:
I have ever been the enemy of banks; not of those discounting for
cash [that is, charging interest on loans of real money], but of those
foisting their own paper into circulation, and thus banishing our cash.
My zeal against those institutions was so warm and open at the
establishment of the bank of the u.s. that I was derided as a Maniac by
the tribe of bank-mongers, who were seeking to filch from the public
their swindling and barren gains .... Shall we build an altar to the old
paper money of the revolution, which ruined individuals but saved
the republic, and bum on that all the bank charters present and future,
342
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
and their notes with them? For these are to ruin both republic and
individuals. This cannot be done. The Mania is too strong. It has seized
by its delusions and corruptions all the members of our governments,
general, special, and individual.
1
Jefferson was right. Congress had neither the wisdom nor the
courage to let the free market clean up the mess that remained after
the demise of the first bank of the U.s. If it had, the fraud soon
would have become understood by the public, the dishonest banks
would have folded, the losses would have been taken, and the
suffering would have been ended, perhaps forever. Instead, Con-
gress moved to protect the banks, to organize the fraud, and to
perpetuate the losses. All of this was accomplished in 1816 when a
twenty-year charter was given to the Second Bank of the United
States.
THE SECOND BANK OF THE UNITED STATES
In every respect the new bank was a carbon copy of the old,
with one minor exception. Congress unashamedly extracted from
the private investors what amounted to nothing less than a bribe in
the form of $1.5 million "in consideration of the exclusive privileges
and benefits conferred by this Act.,,2 The bankers were glad to pay
the fee, not only because it was a modest price for such a profitable
enterprise, but also because, as before, they received an immediate
government deposit of one-fifth the total capitalization which then
was used as the base for manufacturing much of the remaining
startup capital. The charter required the Bank to raise a minimum
of $7 million in specie, but even in its second year of operation, its
specie never rose above $2.5 million.
3
Once again, the monetary
and political scientists had carved out their profitable niches, and
the gullible taxpayer, his head filled with sweet visions of "banking
reform," was left to pick up the tab.
Another important continuity between the old and the new
Bank was the concentration of foreign investment. In fact, the
largest single of st2ck the Bank, about one-third in all,
was held by this group. It IS certaInly no exaggeration to say that
1. Lester J. Cappon, ed., The Adams-Jefferson Letters (New York: Simon and
Schuster, 1971), Vol. II, p. 424.
2. Act of 1816, Section 20,3 Stat. at 191.
3. Rothbard, Mystery, p. 203.
4. Krooss, p. 25.
A DEN OF VIPERS 343
the Second Bank of the United States was rooted as deeply in
Britain as it was in America.
The nation's third central bank ran into deep trouble from the
start. It had promised to continue the tradition of moderating the
other banks by refusing to accept any of their notes unless they
were redeemable in specie on demand. But when the other banks
returned the gesture and required that the new Bank also payout
specie on their demand, it .frequently lost it: was
the tiny matter of corruption. As the Bank s major historIan wntes:
"So many influential people were interested [in the state banks] as
stockholders that it was not advisable to give offense by demand-
ing payment in specie, and borrowers were anxious to keep the
banks in the humor to lend."l
In economics, every policy carries a consequence, and the
consequence of the loose monetary policy of the Second Bank of the
United States was that America was introduced to her first experi-
ence with what now is called the "boom-bust" cycle. Galbraith tells
us: "In 1816, the postwar boom was full on; there was especially
active sreculation in western lands. The new Bank joyously partici-
pated."
The Bank had the advantage over its competitors of a federal
charter plus the government's agreement to accept its notes in the
payment of taxes. But the state banks were by no means left out of
the game. It was still within their power to create money through
fractional-reserve banking and, thus, to further inflate the amount
of the nation's circulating currency. Anxious to get in on this action,
Pennsylvania chartered thirty-seven new banks in 1817. That same
year, Kentucky followed suit with forty new charters. The total
number of banks grew by 46% in just the first two years after the
central bank was created. Any spot along the road that had "a
church, a tavern, or a blacksmith shop was deemed a suitable place
for setting up a bank.,,3 In that same time frame, the money supply
was expanded by an additional $27.4 million; another taxpayer
fleecing of over forty per cent.
1. Ralph C.H. Catterall, The Second Bank of the United States (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1902), p. 36.
2. Galbraith, p. 77.
3. Norman Angell, The Story of Money (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1929),
p.279.
344 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
THE FIRST BOOM-BUST CYCLE
In the past, the effect of this inflationary process always had
been the gradual evaporation of purchasing power and the con-
tinuous transfer of property from those who produced it to those
who controlled the government and ran the banks. This time
however, the process took on a new twist. Gradualism
replaced by catastrophism. The monetary scientists, with their
hands firmly on the controls of the money machine, now began to
throw the levers, first one way, and then the other. The expansion
and then deliberate contraction of the money supply literally threw
the nation into economic convulsions. Why wait for the apples to
fall when the harvest can be hastened simply by shaking the tree?
In 1818, the Bank suddenly began to tighten its requirements
for. new and to call in as many of the old loans as possible.
This contractIon of the money supply was justified to the public
then exactly as it is justified today. It was necessary, they said, to
put the brakes on inflation. The fact that this was the same inflation
the Bank had helped to create in the first place, seems to have gone
unnoticed.
. is doubt that many bankers and politicians act in good
faIth In theIr attempt to bring under control the inflation they
themselves have caused. Not everyone who benefits from the
central-bank mechanism fully understands it. Like Frankenstein,
they create a monster without realizing they cannot control it. Their
crime is. of stupidity, not malice. But stupidity is not a
characterIstIc of the average banker, especially a central banker, and
we must conclude that many of the monetary scientists are well
awa,re of the monster's power for destruction. At best, they just
don t as long as they are safe. And at worst, they perceive that
they are In the apple-harvesting business. They deliberately tease
prod the monster in anticipation of his rampage through the
VIllage orchards. In the final analysis, of course, it is of little
importance whether the shaking of the trees is out of innocence or
malice. The end result is the same. My, how the apples do fall.
The country's first experience with a deliberately created mone-
tary contraction began in 1818 when the Bank became concerned
about its own ability to survive. Professor Rothbard says:
. Starting in July 1818, the government and the BUS [Bank of the
Uruted States] began to see what dire straits they were in; the
A DEN OF VIPERS 345
enormous inflation of money and credit, aggravated by the massive
fraud, had put the BUS in danger of going under and illegally failing
to maintain specie payments. Over the next year, the BUS began a
series of enormous contractions, forced curtailment of loans,
contractions of credit in the south and west.... The contraction of
money and credit swiftly brought to the United States its first
widespread economic and financial depression. The first nationwide
"boom-bust" cycle had arrived in the United States ....
The result of this contraction was a rash of defaults, bankruptcies
of business and manufacturers, and a liquidation of unsound
investments during the boom.
l
THE CYCLE IS WORSENED BY GOVERNMENT
INTERFERENCE
It is widely believed that panics, boom-bust cycles, and depres-
sions are caused by unbridled competition between banks; thus the
need for government regulation. The truth is just the opposite.
These disruptions in the free market are the result of government
prevention of competition by the granting of monopolistic power to
a central bank. In the absence of a monopoly, individual banks may
operate in a fraudulent manner only to a limited extent and for a
short period of time. Inevitably, they will be exposed by their more
honest competitors and will be forced out of business. Yes, their
depositors will be injured by the bankruptcy, but the damage will
be limited to a relatively few and will occur only now and then.
Even geographical regions may be hard hit on occasion, but it will
not be a national tragedy with everyone brought to their knees. The
overall economy will absorb the losses, and commerce at large will
continue to prosper. Within an environment of prosperity, even
those who have been injured by fraudulent banking would have a
good chance for rapid recovery. But, when a central bank is
allowed to protect the fraudulent operators and to force all banks to
function the same, the forces of competition can no longer dampen
the effect. The expansion becomes universal and gigantic. And, of
course, so does the contraction. Except for the bankers and the
politicians, everyone is injured at the same time; depression is
everywhere; and recovery is long delayed.
This is exactly what happened in the so-called panic of 1819. In
the Documentary History of Banking and Currency, Herman Krooss
writes:
1. Rothbard, Mystery, pp. 204-D5. Also see Galbraith, p. 77.
346 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
The Bank, as the largest creditor [to the state banks], had two
alternatives: it could write off its debts which of course would wipe
out the stockholders' equity and result in bankruptcy, or it could force
the state banks to meet their obligations which would mean wholesale
bankruptcy among state banks. There was no doubt about the
choice .... The pressure placed upon state banks deflated the economy
drastically, and as the money supply wilted, the country sank into
d
. 1
severe epresslOn.
As historian William Gouge observed: "The Bank was saved,
and the people were ruined.,,2
Competition between the national Bank and the state banks
during this period had been moved from the open field of the free
market to the closed arena of politics. Free-market competition had
been replaced by government favoritism in the form of charters
which granted the right of monopoly. A federal charter was clearly
better than one issued by a state, but the states fought back fiercely
with what weapons they possessed, and one of those was the
power to tax. Several states began to levy a tax on the paper notes
issued by any bank doing business within their borders which was
not also locally chartered. The intent, although pretended to be the
raising of state revenue, was really to put the federal Bank out of
business.
THE SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS THE BANK
When the Bank refused to pay such a tax to the state of
Maryland, the issue was taken to the Supreme Court in 1819 as the
celebrated case of McCulloch v. Maryland. The Chief Justice at that
time was John Marshall, a leading Federalist and advocate of a
strong, centralized federal government. As was expected, the
Marshall Court carefully tailored its decision to support the federal
government's central bank.
The narrow issue upon which the constitutionality of the Bank
was decided was not whether Congress had the power to directly
or indirectly emit bills of credit or otherwise convert debt into
money. If that had been the issue, the Court would have been hard
pressed to uphold the Bank, for that not only is expressly prohib-
ited by the Constitution, it is precisely what the Bank had been
1. Krooss, pp. 190-91.
2. William M. Gouge, A Short History of Paper Money and Banking in the United States
(New York: Augustus M. Kelly, 1968), p. 110.
A DEN OF VIPERS 347
doing all along, and everyone knew it. Instead, the Court focused
upon the narrow question of whether or not the Bank was a
"necessary and proper" means for Congress to execute any other
constitutional powers it might have. From that perspective, it was
unanimously held that the Bank was, indeed, constitutional.
Were the Bank's paper notes the same as Bills of Credit? No,
because they were backed by the credit of the Bank, not the federal
government. True, the Bank created money, and most of it was
used by the government. Never mind all that. The Treasury did not
print it, therefore, it was not government money.
Was not the Bank the same as an agency of government? No,
because merely granting it a national monopoly and enforcing that
monopoly with the power of the state does not necessarily make it
"state action."
Furthermore, the states cannot tax the federal government or
any of its instruments, including the Bank of the United States,
because, as Marshall stated: liThe power to tax is the power to
destroy."
Here was another end run around the Constitution, executed
this time by the very men who were assumed to be its most loyal
defenders.
The Supreme Court had spoken, but the Court of Public
Opinion had not yet disposed of the case. During the 1820s,
popular sentiment shifted back to the laissez-faire and sound-
money principles espoused by the Jeffersonian Republicans. But
since the Republican Party had by then abandoned those princi-
ples, a new coalition was formed, headed by Martin Van Buren and
Andrew Jackson, to resurrect them. It was called the Democratic
Party, and one of its agenda items was to abolish the Bank of the
United States. After Jackson was elected to the Presidency in 1828,
he wasted no time in attempting to build Congressional support for
that goal.
NICHOLAS BIDDLE
By this time, the Bank had come under the direction of Nicholas
Biddle who was a formidable adversary to Jackson, not only
because of the power of his position, but because of his strong will
and sense of personal destiny. He was the archetype of the new
Eastern Establishment: wealthy, arrogant, ruthless, and brilliant.
Be had graduated from the University of Pennsylvania at the age
348 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
of only thirteen, and, as a young man entering business, had fully
mastered the secret science of money.
With the ability to control the flow of the nation's credit, Biddle
soon became one of the most powerful men in America. This was
brought out dramatically when he was asked by a Senate Commit-
tee if his bank ever took advantage of its superior position over the
state banks. He replied: "Never. There are very few banks which
might not have been destroyed by an exertion of the powers of the
Bank. None has ever been injured.//
1
As Jackson publicly noted a
few months later, this was an admission that most of the state
banks existed only at the pleasure of the Bank of the United States,
and that, of course, meant at the pleasure of Mr. Biddle.
The year was 1832. The Bank's charter was good for another
four years. But Biddle decided not to wait that long for Jackson to
build his forces. He knew that the President was up for reelection,
and he reasoned that, as a candidate, he would hesitate to be too
controversial. To criticize the Bank is one thing, but to corne down
squarely for its elimination altogether would surely cost him many
votes. So, Biddle requested Congress to grant an early renewal of
the charter as a means of softening Jackson's campaign against it.
The bill was backed by the Republicans led by Senator John Clay
and was passed into law on July 3, just before the election
campaigns began in earnest.
JACKSON OVERRIDES CONGRESS
It was brilliant strategy on Biddle's part but it didn't work.
Jackson decided to place his entire political career on the line for
this one issue and, with perhaps the most passionate message ever
delivered to Congress by any President, before or since, he vetoed
the measure. The President's biographer, Robert Remini, says: "The
veto message hit the nation like a tornado. For it not only cited
constitutional arguments against recharter-supposedly the only
reason for resorting to a veto-but political, social, economic, and
nationalistic reasons as well."
2
Jackson devoted most of his veto message to three general
topics: (1) the injustice that is inherent in granting a government-
1. J.D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789-
1908 (Washington: Bureau of National Literature and Art, 1908), Vol. II, p. 581.
2. Robert V. Remini, The Life of Andrew Jackson (New York: Harper & Row, 1988),
pp.227-28.
A DEN OF VIPERS 349
sponsored monopoly to the Bank; (2) the unconstitutionality of the
Bank even if it were not unjust; and (3) the danger to the country in
having the Bank heavily dominated by foreign investors.
Regarding the injustice of a government-sponsored monopoly,
he pointed out that the stock of the Bank was owned only by the
richest citizens of the country and that, since the sale of stock was
limited to a chosen few with political influence, the common man,
not only is unfairly excluded from an opportunity to participate,
but he is forced to pay for his banking services far more than they
are worth. Unearned profits are bad enough when they are taken
from one class of citizens and given to another, but it is even worse
when the people receiving those benefits are not even citizens at all
but are, in fact foreigners. Jackson said:
It is not our own citizens only who are to receive the bounty of our
Government. More than eight millions of the stock of this bank are
held by foreigners. By this act the American Republic proposes
virtually to make them a present of some millions of dollars.... It
appears that more than a fourth part of the stock is held by foreigners
and the residue is held by a few hundred of our own citizens, chiefly
of the richest class. For their benefit does this act exclude the whole
American people from competition in the purchase of this monopoly
and dispose of it for many millions less than it is worth.
1
Regarding the issue of constitutionality, he said that he was not
bound by the previous decision of the Supreme Court, because the
President and Congress had just as much right to decide for
themselves whether or not a particular law is constitutional. This
view, incidentally, was not novel at that time. It is only in relatively
recent decades that people have begun to think of the Supreme
Court as being specifically authorized to pass on this question. In
fact, as Jackson correctly pointed out in his veto message, the
founding fathers created a government with power divided be-
tween the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and that the
purpose of this division was, not merely to divvy up the chores, but
to balance one branch against the other. The goal was not to make
government efficient but to deliberately make it inefficient. Each
President and each legislator is morally bound, even by oath, to
uphold the Constitution. If each of them does not have the power to
1. Krooss, pp. 22-23.
350 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
decide in conscience what is constitutional, then taking an oath to
uphold it has little meaning.
THE BANK CONTROLLED BY FOREIGN INVESTORS
Regarding the danger to our national security, Jackson returned
to the fact that a major portion of the Bank's stockholders were
foreigners. Even though foreign investors technically were not
allowed to vote their shares, their financial power was so great that
the American investors were clearly beholden to them and would
likely follow their instructions. Jackson concluded:
Is there no danger to our liberty and independence in a bank that
in its nature has so little to bind it to our country? .. [Is there not] cause
to tremble for the purity of our elections in peace and for the
independence of our country in war? .. Of the course which would be
pursued by a bank almost wholly owned by the subjects of a foreign
power, and managed by those whose interests, if not affections, would
run in the same direction there can be no doubt. ... Controlling our
currency, receiving our public monies, and holding thousands of our
citizens in dependence, it would be more formidable and dangerous
than a naval and military power of the enemy.
1
Jackson saved the greatest passion of his argument for the end.
Speaking now, not to Congress, but to the voters at large, he said:
It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the
acts of government to their selfish purposes. Distinctions in society
will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of
education, or of wealth cannot be produced by human institutions. In
the full enjoyment of the gifts of Heaven and the fruits of superior
industry, economy, and virtue, every man is equally entitled to
protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add to these natural
and just advantages artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities,
and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more
powerful, the humble members of society-the farmers, mechanics,
and laborers-who have neither the time nor the means of securing
like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of
their Government. There are no necessary evils in government. Its
evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal
protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favor alike on the
high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified
blessing. In the act before me there seems to be a wide and
unnecessary departure from these just principles.
2
1. Krooss, pp. 26-27.
2. Ibid., pp. 36-37.
A DEN OF VIPERS 351
The veto did not defeat the Bank. It was merely a declaration of
war. The major battles were yet to come.
BIDDLE'S CONTROL OVER CONGRESS
As Commanding General of the pro-bank forces, Biddle had
one powerful advantage over his adversary. For all practical
purposes, Congress was in his pocket. Or, more accurately, the
product of his generosity was in the pockets of Congressmen.
Following the Rothschild Formula, Biddle had been careful to
reward compliant politicians with success in the business world.
Few of them were willing to bite the hand that fed them. Even the
great Senator, Daniel Webster, found himself kneeling at Biddle's
throne. Galbraith says:
Biddle was not without resources. In keeping with his belief that
banking was the ultimate source of power, he had regularly advanced
funds to members of Congress when delay on appropriations bills had
held up their pay. Daniel Webster was, at various times, a director of
the Bank and on retainer as its counsel. "I believe my retainer has not
been renewed or refreshed as usual. If it be wished that my relation to
the Bank should be continued, it may be well to send me the usual
retainers. II Numerous other men of distinction had been
accommodated, including members of the press.
1
Webster is a particularly interesting study in how even so-
called "great" men can be compromised by an addiction to wealth.
He had always been an advocate of sound money in Congress, yet,
as a lawyer on Biddle's payroll, he represented the Bank's position
before the Supreme Court in McCulloch v. Maryland. Much of the
twisted logic that allowed the Court to end-run the Constitution
and destroy sound money came from his pen.
After Jackson's veto of the Bank's charter, Biddle requested
Webster to deliver speeches specifically for the purpose of having
the Bank reprint them for mass distribution. In one of those
speeches, Webster echoed the old refrain that the Bank served as a
moderating influence on the nation's other banks and then piously
proclaimed: "Congress can alone coin money; ... no State (nor even
Congress itself) can make anything a tender but gold and silver, in
the payment of debts.,,2 In an act of astounding hypocrisy, this
speech was distributed widely by the very institution that was
1. Galbraith, p. 80.
2. Krooss, p. 2.
352
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
designed specifically for creating fractional fiat money, without
gold or silver backing, to function as tender in the payment of
debts. Then, as now, most people did not discern between words
and actions and believed that this speech, delivered by such a
"great" man, was evidence of the Bank's worthiness. Biddle even
distributed 300,000 copies of Jackson's veto message, apparently in
the that many rea.d it. Obviously{ if the Bank
thought It was so bad as to dIstribute It, it must be bad.
The power of the Bank's money was everywhere. It was as John
Randolph, the fiery Old Republican from Virginia, had said: "Every
man you meet in this House or out of it, with some rare exceptions,
which only serve to prove the rule, is either a stockholder,
president, cashier, clerk or doorkeeper, runner, engraver, paper-
maker, or mechanic in some other way to a bank.,,2
JACKSON APPEALS DIRECTLY TO THE VOTERS
Congress, the banks, speculators, industrialists, and segments
of the press; these were the forces commanded by Biddle. But
Jackson had a secret weapon which had never been used before in
American politics. That weapon was a direct appeal to the elector-
ate. He took his message on the campaign trail and delivered it in
words well chosen to make a lasting impression on the voter. He
spoke out against a moneyed aristocracy which had invaded the
halls of Congress, impaired the morals of the people, threatened
their liberty, and subverted the electoral process. The Bank, he said,
was a hydra-headed monster eating the flesh of the common man.
He swore to do battle with the monster and slay it or be slain by it.
He bellowed his position to every crowd he could reach: Bank and
no Jackson, or no bank and Jackson!3
On the subject of paper money, the President was equally
emphatic. His biographer describes the campaign:
On his homeward journey he reportedly paid all his expenses in
"No more paper money, you see, fellow citizens," he remarked
WIth each gold payment, "if I can only put down this Nicholas Biddle
and his monster bank." Gold, hardly the popular medium of
exchange, was held up to the people as the safe and sound currency
1. Remini, Life, p. 234.
2. Annals of Congress, 14 Cong., 1st sess., pp. 1066, 1110 ff.
3. Robert Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom, 1822-1832
(New York: Harper & Row, 1981), p. 373.
A DEN OF VIPERS 353
which Jackson and his administration hoped to restore to regular use.
Unlike paper money, gold represented real value and true worth. It
was the coin of honest men. Rag money, on the other hand, was the
instrument of banks and swindlers to corrupt and cheat an innocent
and virtuous public.
I
Jackson had awakened the indignation of the American people.
When the November ballots were cast, he received a mammoth
vote of He received fifty-five per cent of the popular
vote thirty-seven per cent for Clay, eight per cent for Wirt)
eIghty per cent of the vote in the electoral college. But the war
still was not over. Jackson won the election, but the Bank had four
to operate, it intended to use those years to sway
pubbc sentIment back to Its support. The biggest battles were yet to
come.
JACKSON REMOVES FEDERAL DEPOSITS
Jackson did not wait to act. He knew that time would be used as
a weapon against him. "The hydra of corruption is only scotched
d d
"h . 2 '
not ea, e Said. Soon after the election, he ordered Secretary of
the Treasury, William Duane, to place all new deposits of the
federal government into various state banks around the country
and to pay current expenses out of the funds still held by the Bank
of the United States until that account was drained to zero. Without
the use of federal money, surely the monster would perish. To
Jackson's chagrin, however, Duane balked at the order out of a
sincere conviction that, to do so, would be disruptive to the
economy.
This was not the first time a Cabinet officer and a President had
come to disagreement. In the past, however, the impasse had
always been resolved by the resignation of the Secretary. This time
different. Duane refused to resign, and that raised an interest-
Ing constitutional question. A President could appoint a member of
the executive branch only with the consent of the Senate. The
Constitution was silent, however, on the matter of dismissal. Did
that, too, require Senate approval? The implication was that it did,
but the issue had never been tested.
Jackson had no patience for such theoretical questions. The
letter arrived promptly on Duane's desk: "Your further services as
1. Remini, Life, pp. 234-35.
2. Remini, Course, p. 52.
354 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
Secretary of the Treasury are no longer required."l On October 1,
1833, federal deposits began to move out of the Bank.
Jackson felt that he finally had the monster firmly within his
grasp. "I have it chained," he said.
2
With gleeful confidence, he
added: "I am ready with the screws to draw every tooth and then
the stumps." If [ am not mistaken, he went on, we will have "Mr.
Biddle and his Bank as quiet and harmless as a lamb in six weeks.',3
BIDDLE DELIBERATELY CREATES MONETARY CHAOS
The President's view of the Bank's meek captivity was prema-
ture, to say the least. Biddle responded, not like a lamb, but more
like a wounded lion. His plan was to rapidly contract the nation's
money supply and create another panic-depression similar to the
one the Bank had created thirteen years earlier. This then could be
blamed on Jackson's withdrawal of federal deposits, and the
resulting backlash surely would cause Congress to override the
President's veto. Remini tells us:
Biddle counterattacked. He initiated a general curtailment of loans
throughout the entire banking system .... It marked the beginning of a
bone-crushing struggle between a powerful financier and a
determined and equally powerful politician. Biddle understood what
he was about. He knew that if he brought enough pressure and agony
to the money market, only then could he force the President to restore
the deposits. He almost gloated. "This worthy President thinks that
because he has scalped Indians and imp'risoned Judges, he is to have
his way with the Bank. He is mistaken.',4 ...
"The ties of party allegiance can only be broken," he declared, "by
the actual conviction of existing distress in the community." And such
distress, of course, would eventually put everything to rights.
"Nothing but widespread suffering will produce any effect on
Congress.... Our only safety is in pursuing a steady course of firm
restriction-and I have no doubt that such a course will ultimately
lead to restoration of the currency and the recharter of the Bank.
5
... My
1. William J. Duane, Narrative and Correspondence Concerning the Removal of the
Deposits and Occurrences Connected Therewith (Philadelphia: n.p., 1838), pp. 101--03.
Quoted by Remini, Life, p. 264.
2. Quoted by Herman J. Viola, Andrew Jackson (New York: Chelsea House, 1986),
p.88.
3. A letter from Jackson to Van Buren, November 19, 1833, Van Buren Papers,
Library of Congress. Quoted by Remini, Life, p. 264.
4. Remini, Life, p. 265.
5. Remini, Democracy, p. 111.
A DEN OF VIPERS 355
own course is decided. All other banks and all the merchants may
break, but the Bank of the United States shall not break."}
Biddle, therefore, decided to use the American people as
sacrificial pawns in the giant chess match for the Bank's survival.
The resulting economic chaos is not difficult to imagine. Biddle's
contraction of the money supply was executed at a particularly
vulnerable moment. Business had been expanding as a result of the
Bank's prior easy credit and now was dependent on it. Also, the
tariff came due at precisely this time, placing still more demand for
cash and credit. Losses were sustained everywhere, wages and
prices sagged, men were put out of work, companies went bank-
rupt. By the time Congress reconvened in December, in what was
called the "Panic Session," the nation was in an uproar. Newspa-
pers editorialized with alarm, and letters of angry protest flooded
into Washington.
As the pressure continued to build in Congress, it began to look
as though Biddle's plan would work. In the public eye, it was
Jackson who was solely responsible for the nation's woes. It was his
arrogant removal of Secretary Duane; it was his foolish insistence
on removing the deposits; it was his obstinate opposition to
Congress.
JACKSON IS CENSURED BY THE SENATE
For one-hundred days, a "phalanx of orators" daily excoriated
the President for his arrogant and harmful conduct. At length, a
resolution of censure was introduced into the Senate and, on March
28, 1834, it was passed by a vote of 26 to 20. This was the first time
that a President had ever been censured by Congress, and it was a
savage blow to Jackson's pride. Biddle, at last, had the upper hand.
The President rumbled around the White House in a fit of rage.
"You are a den of Vipers," he said to a delegation of the Bank's
supporters. "I intend to rout you out and by the Eternal God I will
rout you out.,,2
The censure was by no means indicative of popular sentiment.
Even in the Senate, which was a hotbed of pro-Bank support, a
SWing of only three votes would have defeated the measure.
1. Biddle to William Appleton, January 27, 1834, and to J.G. Watmough,
February 8, 1834. Nicholas Biddle, Correspondence, 1807-1844, Reginald C.
McGrane, ed. (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1919), pp. 219, 221.
2. Quoted by Viola, p. 86.
356
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
During all this time, imperceptibly at first, but quickly growing, the
public had been learning the truth. Jackson, of course, was doing
everything within his power to hasten the process, but other factors
also were at work, not the least of which was Biddle himself. So
large was his ego that he could not keep from boasting in public
about his plan to deliberately disrupt the economy. People heard
these boasts and they believed him. The turning point came when
Governor George Wolf of Pennsylvania, the Bank's home state,
came out publicly with a strong denunciation of both the Bank and
Biddle. This was like the starting bell at a horse race. With the
Bank's home state turned against it, there was no one left to defend
it and, literally within days, the mood of the country and of
Congress changed.
The Democrats wasted no time consolidating these unexpected
gains. To test their strength on the issue, on April 4, 1834, they
called for a vote in the House on a series of resolutions which were
aimed at nullifying the censure in the Senate. In essence, the
resolutions stated that the House totally approved the President's
bank policy. The first resolution, passed by a vote of 134 to 82,
declared that the Bank of the United States "ought not to be
rechartered." The second, passed by a vote of 118 to 103, agreed
that the deposits "ought not to be restored." And the third, passed
by an overwhelming vote of 175 to 42, called for the establishment
of a special committee of Congress to investigate whether the Bank
had deliberately instigated the current economic crisis. It was an
overwhelming victory for Jackson which would be culminated a
few years later with the passage of a resolution in the Senate which
formally rescinded the previous vote of censure.
BIDDLE DEFIES CONGRESS
When the investigating committee arrived at the Bank's doors
in Philadelphia armed with a subpoena to examine the books,
Biddle flatly refused. Nor would he allow inspection of correspon-
dence with Congressmen relating to their personal loans and
advances. And he steadfastly refused to testify before the commit-
tee back in Washington. For lesser mortals, such action would have
resulted in citations of contempt of Congress and would have
carried stiff fines or imprisonment. But not for Nicholas Biddle.
Remini explains:
A DEN OF VIPERS 357
The committeemen demanded a citation for contempt, but many
southern Democrats opposed this extreme action, and refused to
cooperate. As Biddle bemusedly observed, it would be ironic if he
went to prison "by the votes of members of Congress because I would
not give up to their enemies their confidential letters." Although
Biddle escaped a contempt citation, his outrageous defiance of the
House only condemned him still further in the eyes of the American
public.
1
The Bank was still alive but had been mortally wounded. By
this time, Jackson had completely paid off the national debt
incurred by the War of 1812 and had even run up a surplus. In fact,
he ordered the Treasury to give back to the states more than
$35 million, which was used for the construction of a wide variety
of public works.
With these accomplishments close on the heels of his victory
over the Bank, the President had earned the undying hatred of
monetary scientists, both in America and abroad. It is not surpris-
ing, therefore, that on January 30, 1835, an assassination attempt
was made against him. Miraculously, both pistols of the assailant
misfired, and Jackson was spared by a quirk of fate. It was the first
such attempt to be made against the life of a President of the United
States. The would-be assassin was Richard Lawrence who either
was truly insane or who pretended to be insane to escape harsh
punishment. At any rate, Lawrence was found not guilty due to
insanity.2 Later, he boasted to friends that he had been in touch
with powerful people in Europe who had promised to protect him
from punishment should he be caught.
3
The ending to this saga holds no surprises. The Bank's charter
expired in 1836 and it was restructured as a state bank by the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. After a spree of specUlation in
cotton, lavish advances to the Bank's officers, and the suspension of
payment in specie, Biddle was arrested and charged with fraud.
Although not convicted, he was still undergoing civil litigation
when he died. Within five years, the establishment was forced to
close its doors forever, and America's third experience with central
banking came to a close.
1. Remini, Life, p. 274.
2. Remini, Democracy, p. 228-29.
3. Robert J. Donovan, The Assassins (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1952), p. 83.
358 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
SOME BAD MIXED IN WITH THE GOOD
It is tempting to let the story stop right there and allow Jackson
to forever wear the crown of hero and dragon slayer. But a more
balanced view of these events leads to the conclusion that the forces
of virtue were not without contamination. Jackson represented the
position of those who wanted only gold and silver for the nation's
money. But this group was not large enough to match the power of
the Bank. He was joined in that battle by many groups which hated
the Bank for other, less admirable reasons. State banks and business
interests along the expanding frontier, for example, were not the
least interested in Constitutional money. They wanted just the
opposite. They viewed the modest restraints of the federal Bank as
excessive. With the federal Bank out of the way, they anticipated no
restraints at all. As we shall see in the following section, it is ironic
that this is the group that got what it wanted, not the hard-money
J acksonians.
One cannot blame Jackson for accepting the support of these
groups in his effort to slay the dragon. In politics, it often is
necessary to make temporary alliances with one's opponents to
achieve occasional common objectives. But Jackson went further
than that. More than any other President before him, and rivalled
by only a few since, he changed the character of American politics.
He led the nation away from the new concept of diffused powers,
carefully worked out by the founding fathers, back toward the
Old-World tradition of concentration and monarchy. By strongly
challenging the right of the States to secede from the Union, he set
into motion a concept that, not only would lead to civil war, but
which would put an end forever to the ability of the states to check
the expanding power of the federal government. No longer was the
Union to be based on the principle of consent of the governed. It
was now to be based on force of arms. And through the manipula-
tion of voter passion on the Bank issue, he changed the perception
of the role of President from public servant to national leader.
At the height of the battle against the Bank, when Jackson was
making a direct appeal to the voters for support, he declared: "The
President is the direct representative of the people." To fully
comprehend the significance of that statement, it must be remem-
bered that the plan of the Constitution was for the President to be
elected indirectly by the state legislatures, not by the voters at large.
A DEN OF VIPERS 359
After fighting a war to throw off the rule of King George, III, the
founding fathers wanted nothing more to do with kings of any
kind, and they went out of their way to make sure that the
President of the United States would never be looked upon as such.
They realized that an elected ruler, unless his power is carefully
limited and diffused, can become just as despotic as an unelected
one. Article 2, Section 1, of the Constitution, therefore, established
an electoral college to select the President.
Members of the college are to be appointed by the states.
Congressmen, Senators, or other officers of the federal government
are specifically and wisely excluded. The college is supposed to
select a President strictly on the basis of his integrity and executive
ability, not his party label, political connections, good looks,
charisma, or stirring orations. The people may elect their Congress-
men, but the electoral college chooses the President. Thus, it was
intended that the President would have a different constituency
from Congress, and this difference was important to insure the
balance of power that the framers of the Constitution worked so
hard to create. As a means of keeping government under control, it
was a truly brilliant piece of political engineering.
All of that was changed in the election of 1832. One of the sad
facts of history is that good causes often are the occasion for
establishing bad precedents. Jackson's fight against the Bank of the
United States was one of those events.
SUMMARY
The government had encouraged widespread banking fraud
during the War of 1812 as an expedient for paying its bills, and this
had left the nation in monetary chaos. At the end of the war,
instead of allowing the fraudulent banks to fall and letting the free
market heal the damage, Congress decided to protect the banks, to
organize the fraud, and to perpetuate the losses. It did this by
creating the nation's third central bank called the Second Bank of
the United States.
The new bank was almost an exact carbon copy of the previous
one. It was authorized to create money for the federal government
and to regulate state banks. It influenced larger amounts of capital
and was better organized across state lines than the old bank.
Consequently its poliCies had a greater impact on the creation and
extinguishing of the nation's money supply. For the first time in
360 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
our history, the effects began to ricochet across the entire country at
once instead of being confined to geographical regions. The age of
the boom-bust cycle had at last arrived in America.
In 1820, pUblic opinion began to swing back in favor of the
sound-money principles espoused by the Jeffersonian Republicans.
But since the Republican Party had by then abandoned those
principles, a new coalition was formed, headed by Martin Van
Buren and Andrew Jackson, called the Democrat Party. One of its
primary platforms was the abolishment of the Bank. After Jackson
was elected in 1828, he began in full earnest to bring that about.
The head of the Bank was a formidable adversary by the name
of Nicholas Biddle. Biddle, not only possessed great personal
abilities, but many members of Congress were indebted to him for
business favors. Consequently, the Bank had many political
friends.
As Jackson's first term of office neared its end, Biddle asked
Congress for an early renewal of the Bank's charter, hoping that
Jackson would not risk controversy in a reelection year. The bill
was easily passed, but Jackson accepted the challenge and vetoed
the measure. Thus, a battle over the Bank's future became the
primary presidential campaign issue.
Jackson was reelected by a large margin, and one of his first acts
was to remove federal deposits from the Bank and place them into
private, regional banks. Biddle counterattacked by contracting
credit and calling in loans. This was calculated to shrink the money
supply and trigger a national panic-depression, which it did. He
publicly blamed the downturn on Jackson's removal of deposits.
The plan almost worked. Biddle's political allies succeeded in
having Jackson officially censured in the Senate. However, when
the truth about Biddle's strategy finally leaked out, it backfired
against him. He was called before a special Congressional investi-
gative committee to explain his actions, the censure against Jackson
was rescinded, and the nation's third central bank passed into
oblivion.
Chapter Eighteen
LOAVES AND FISHES
AND CIVIL WAR
Attempts to stabilize the banking system by
political measures, including regulation of frac-
tional-reserve ratios and establishing bank-failure
insurance funds; the failure of all such schemes;
the resulting economic conditions that led up to
the Civil War.
As detailed in the previous chapter, by 1836 the hydra-headed
monster had been slain and, true to the President's campaign
promise, the nation had Jackson and no Bank.
In April of that year, the Administration moved to consolidate
its victory and pushed a series of monetary reforms through
Congress. One of these required all banks to cease issuing paper
notes under dollars. The figure later was increased to twenty
dollars, and Its purpose was to compel the nation to return to the
of ?old and silver coin for everyday use, leaving bank notes
pnmarIly for large commercial transactions. The White House also
announced that, in the future, all federal land sales would require
full payment in "lawful money, II which, of course, meant precious-
metal coins.
1
It be remembered, however, that even though the Bank of
the Uruted States was dead, banking was very much alive, and so
were Jackson's enemies. Much to the disappointment of the hard-
money advocates, these measures were not sufficient to usher in
the millennium. Not only were they inadequate by themselves,
they soon circumvented by the development of new banking
techniques and eventually were dismantled completely by a fickle
Congress.
1. Otto Scott, The Secret Six: The Fool as Martyr, Vol. III of The Sacred Fool Quartet
(Columbia, South Carolina: Foundation for American Education, 1979), p. 115.
362 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
The prohibition against bank notes of small denomination
deserves special notice. It was an excellent concept, but what the
legislators failed to understand, or at least pretended not to under-
stand, was that banks at this time were increasingly dealing with
checkbook money, technically called demand deposits. As people
gradually became accustomed to this new method of transferring
funds, the importance of bank notes declined. Placing a limit on the
issuance of bank notes without any restriction on the creation of
demand deposits was an exercise in futility.
In 1837, as the Bank of the United States slipped into history,
the nation was at the tail end of an economic boom. Professor
Rothbard tells us that this expansion and the accompanying
inflation had been "fueled by the central bank."l Total money in
circulation had risen by eighty-four per cent in just four years.
Then, as inevitable as the setting sun, that portion of the money
supply which had been created by fractional-reserve banking-in
other words, the part which was backed by nothing-began to
contract. Sixteen per cent of all the nation's money totally disap-
peared in just that first year. Again, men were put out of work,
businesses went into bankruptcy, homes and savings were lost.
Many banks folded also, but their operators walked away with the
spoils. Only the depositors were left holding the empty bag.
There were numerous proposals advanced regarding how to
infuse stability into the banking system. But, then as now, none of
them dealt with the real problem, which was fractional-reserve
banking itself. As Groseclose observed, these proposals were" each
according to a particular theory of how to multiply loaves and
fishes, or how to make candy wool.,,2 Since the proposals presented
then are identical to the ones being offered today, and since each of
them was actually tried, it would seem appropriate to inquire into
the actual results of these experiments.
PROPOSAL TO BASE MONEY ON BANK ASSETS
There were four schools of thought regarding the multiplica-
tion of loaves and fishes. The first of these was that the creation of
money should be limited to a ratio of the bank's assets. This was the
formula that was tried in the New England states. In Massachu-
setts, for example, the issuance of bank notes was limited to two
1. Rothbard, Mystery, p. 211.
2. Groseclose, Money and Man, p. 184.
LOAVES AND FISHES AND CIVIL WAR 363
times the amount of the bank's capital actually held in the vault.
Furthermore, this could not be in the form of paper money, bonds,
securities, or other debt instruments; it had to be strictly gold or
silver coin. Also, the banks were limited in the number of smaII-
denomination bank notes they could issue and, in this, Massachu-
setts served as the model for Jackson's attempted reform at the
federal level. By previous standards, and certainly by the standards
that prevail today, this was an exceptionally conservative policy. In
fact, even during the previous stress of the War of 1812, when
banks were failing by the hundreds across the country, the Massa-
chusetts banks, and most of the other New England banks as well,
were able to maintain full payment in specie.
With the passage of time, however, the limit on bank notes
became less important, because the banks now were using checkbook
money instead. Their paper notes may have been limited to
two-hundred per cent of their capital, but there was no effective
limit to the numbers they could ink into people's deposit books. So
the "fraction" in fractional-reserve banking began to shrink again.
Consequently, the monetary contraction of 1837 "was like a scythe
over the crop," says Groseclose, and thirty-two Massachusetts
banks collapsed between that year and 1844.
1
The state attempted to patch the system by instituting a
network of bank examiners and by increasing the liability of bank
stockholders for the lost funds of their depositors, but the underly-
ing problem was still ignored. A new crop of banks then sprang
into existence and a new wave of speculative mania swept through
the economy. By 1862, even though the law still limited bank notes
to two times capital, the banks had created $73,685,000 in total
money, including checkbook money. This was supported by a base
of only $9,595,000 of specie, a reserve of only thirteen per cent.
Massachusetts had not solved the problem.
PROPOSAL TO PROTECT DEPOSITS WITH A SAFETY
FUND
The second theory about how to have stable banking and allow
the banks to create money out of nothing was to create a "safety
fund." This fund, supported by all the banks, would come to the
aid of any member which needed an emergency loan to cover a
1. Groseclose, Money and Man, p. 185.
364 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
sudden drain of its reserves. It was the forerunner of today's
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and related agencies.
The first safety fund was established in New York in 1829. The
law required each bank to contribute annually one-half of one per
cent of its capital stock until the total reached three per cent. The
fund was first put to the test during the crisis of 1837, and was
almost swamped. The only thing that saved it was that the state
agreed to accept the worthless notes of all the defunct banks as
payment for canal tolls. In other words, the taxpayers were
compelled to make up the difference. When the fund was
exhausted, the solvent banks were punished by being forced to pay
for the deficits of the insolvent ones. Naturally, this impelled all
banks to act more recklessly. Why not? The up side was that profits
would be higher-for a time, at least-and the down side was that,
if recklessness got them into trouble, the safety fund would bail
them out. The result was that the system provided a penalty for
prudence and an incentive for recklessness; a situation with perfect
parallel to that which exists in the banking system today.
Groseclose says:
The conservatively managed institutions, lending upon the safer
risks, upon which naturally the margins of profit were smaller, found
the assessments burdensome, and were compelled to embark upon the
more speculative business in order to carry the charges.
1
Gradually, all banks sank into the quagmire and, in 1857, the
Massachusetts safety-fund was abandoned.
Michigan's experience with a safety fund was perhaps more
typical of the period. It was established in 1836 and was completely
blown away the next year, during the panic of 1837.
PROPOSAL TO BASE MONEY ON SECURITIES
The third proposal for maintaining a stable monetary system
while, at the same time, allowing the banks to operate fraudulently
was to base the money supply on government securities; in other
words, upon paper certificates of government debt. This was the
scheme adopted in the 1850s by Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and
other Midwestern states. It also set the precedent for the Federal
Reserve System sixty years later. Groseclose continues:
1. Groseclose, Money and Man, p. 186.
LOAVES AND FISHES AND CIVIL WAR 365
So rampant was the note-issue mania that the notes came to be
called by the appropriate name of "red dog" and "wild cat"
currency .... The rising crop of banks created a fictitious demand and a
rising market for securities (to be used as capital stock) and a
consequent stimulus to the creation of public debt by the issue of
securities. This was followed by more bank notes being issued against
the securities, demand increasing and the market rising, more
securities issues, more bank notes, and so on in an endless chain of
debt creation and the inflation of paper wealth. The process was finally
brought to a stop by the panic of 1857.
1
PROPOSAL TO BACK MONEY WITH STATE CREDIT
The fourth proposal for producing something out of nothing
was to back the issuance of money by the full faith and credit of the
state. This was the method tried by many of the Southern states and
it, too, has survived to become one of the cornerstones of our
modern-day banking system.
Alabama, for example, in 1835 created a state bank funded by a
public bond issue of $13,800,000. Instant money flooded through
the economy and people were joyous over the miracle prosperity.
The legislators were so intoxicated with the scheme that they
completely abolished direct taxation and decided to run the
government on bank money instead. In other words, instead of
raising state revenue through taxes, they found it easier to raise it
through inflation.
Like all the others, this bubble also burst in the panic of 1837. A
postmortem examination of the Bank showed that $6,000,000 of its
assets were completely worthless. The people who had loaned their
real money to the venture, backed by the full faith and credit of the
state, lost almost all of their investment-in addition to what they
had paid through inflation.
Mississippi put its full faith and credit behind a state bank in
1838 and issued $15,000,000 in bonds as backing for its bank notes.
The bank was belly-up within four years, and the state completely
repUdiated its obligations on the bonds. This infuriated the bond
holders, particularly the British financiers who had purchased a
large portion of the issue. The devastating effect upon the state and
its people is described by Henry Poor:
1. Groseclose, Money and Man, pp. 188-89.
366 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
The $48,000,000 of the bank's loans were never paid; the
$23,000,000 of notes and deposits were never redeemed. The whole
system fell, a huge and shapeless wreck, leaving the people of the State
very much as they came into the world.... Everybody was in debt,
without any possible means of payment. Lands became worthless, for
the reason that no one had any money to pay for them.... Such
numbers of people fled ... from the State that the common return upon
legal processes against debtors was in the very abbreviated form
"G.T.T."-gone to Texas.
1
Money, based on the full faith and credit of the state, met
similar fates in lllinois, Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, and Louisi-
ana. When the state bank collapsed in lllinois in 1825, all of the
"full-faith" bank notes left in its possession were ceremoniously
burned at the public square. Another bank was formed in 1835 and
collapsed in 1842. So devastating were these experiences that the
Illinois Constitution of 1848 stipulated that, henceforth, the state
should never again create a bank or own banking stock.
In Arkansas, even real estate was tried as a magic wand.
Subscribers to the state bank, instead of putting up cash, were
allowed merely to pledge their real estate holdings as collateral.
The bank notes rapidly plummeted in value to only twenty-five per
cent of their face amount, and within four years, the bank was
gone.
THE MIRAGE OF FREE BANKING
There was a parallel development at this time called "free
banking." The name is an insult to truth. What was called free
banking was merely the conversion of banks from corporations to
private associations. Aside from no longer receiving a charter from
the state, practically every other aspect of the system remained the
same, including a multitude of government controls, regulations,
supports, and other blocks against the free market. George Selgin
reminds us that "permission to set up a bank was usually accompa-
nied by numerous restrictions, including especially required loans
to the state.,,2
1. Henry V. Poor, Money and Its lAws (London: Henry S. King and Co., 1877),
p.540.
2. George A. Selgin, The Theory of Free Banking: Money Supply under Competitive Note
Issue (Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman & Littlefield, 1988), p. 13.
LOAVES AND FISHES AND CIVIL WAR 367
The free banks were no less fraudulent than the chartered
banks. The old custom was revived of rushing gold coins from one
bank to another just ahead of the bank examiners, and of "putting a
ballast of lead, broken glass and (appropriately) ten-penny nails in
the box under a thinner covering of gold coins.,,1 When one such
free bank collapsed in Massachusetts, it was discovered that its
bank note circulation of $500,000 was backed by exactly $86.48.
2
Professor Hans Sennholz writes:
Although economists disagree on many things, most see eye to
eye on their acceptance of political controL.. These economists
invariably point at American money and banking before the Civil War
which, in their judgment, confirms their belief. In particular, they cite
the "Free Banking Era" of 1838-1860 as a frightening example of
turbulent banking and, therefore, applaud the legislation that
strengthened the role of government.
In reality, the instability experienced during the Free Banking Era
was not caused by anything inherent in banking, but resulted from
extensive political intervention.... "Free banking" acts ... did not
repeal burdensome statutory provisions and regulatory directives. In
fact they added a few.
3
For banking to have been truly free, the states would have had
to do only two things: (1) enforce banking contracts the same as any
other contract, and then (2) step out of the picture. By enforcing
banking contracts, the executives of any bank which failed to
redeem its currency in specie would have been sent to prison, an
eventuality which soon would have put a halt to currency overis-
sue. By stepping out of the picture and dropping the pretense of
protecting the public with a barrage of rules, regulations, safety
funds, and guarantees, people would have realized that it was their
responsibility to be cautious and informed. But, instead, the banks
continued to enjoy the special privilege of suspending payment
without punishment, and the politicians clamored to convince the
voters that they were taking care of everything.
In short, throughout this entire period of bank failures, eco-
nomic chaos, and fleecing of both investors and taxpayers, America
1. Galbraith, p. fr7.
2 Charles Beard, The Rise of American Civilization (New York: Macmillan, 1930),
Vol. I, pp. 429-30.
3. "Old Banking Myths," by Hans F. Sennholz, The Freeman (Irvington-on-
Hudson, New York), May, 1989, pp.175-76.
368 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
tried everything except full redemption by gold and silver. As the
name of Andrew Jackson faded into history, so did the dream of
honest banking.
Not all banks were corrupt, and certainly not all bankers were
conspirators against the public. There were many examples of
honest men striving to act in an ethical manner in the discharge of
their fiduciary responsibilities. But they were severely hampered
by the system within which they labored, a system which, as
previously illustrated, punished prudence and rewarded reckless-
ness. In balance, the prudent banker was pushed aside by the
mainstream and became but a footnote to the history of that period.
INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION IN SPITE OF DISHONEST
BANKING
Another positive aspect to the picture is that it was during this
same time that many business enterprises came into being and
greatly prospered, albeit at the expense of those who had no desire
to contribute. The great canals were dug, the railroads pushed back
the frontier, boom towns sprang up along the way, prairies were
turned into agricultural land, and new businesses followed in their
wake. Much of this expansion was facilitated by a flood of
fraudulent money created by the banks. Apologists for fractional-
reserve banking have been prone to look at this development and
conclude that, in net balance, it was a good thing. The fact that
some people were cheated in order for others to prosper did not
seem to be important. America just wouldn't have grown and
prospered without funny money. Galbraith, for example, exudes:
As civilization, or some approximation, carne to an Indiana or
Michigan crossroads in the 1830s or 1840s, so did a bank. Its notes,
when used and loaned to a fanner to buy land, livestock, feed, seed,
food or simple equipment, put him into business. If he and others
prospered and paid off their loans, the bank survived. If he and others
did not so prosper and pay, the bank failed, and someone-perhaps a
local creditor, perhaps an eastern supplier-was left holding the
worthless notes. But some borrowers from this bank were by now in
business. Somewhere, someone holding the notes had made an
involuntary contribution to the winning of the West .... The [banking]
anarchy served the frontier far better than a more orderly system that
kept a tight hand on credit could have done.
l
1. Galbraith, p. 85.
LOAVES AND FISHES AND CIVIL WAR 369
William Greider continues this rationale:
"Reckless, booming anarchy," in short, produced fundamental
progress. It was not a stable system, racked as it was with bank failures
and collapsed business ventures, outrageous speculation and
defaulted loans. Yet it was also energetic and inventive, creating
pennanent economic growth that endured after the froth had blown
away.
1
This, of course, is a classic example of the failure of liberal
economics. When evaluating a policy, it focuses only on one
beneficial consequence for one group of people and ignores the
multitude of harmful effects which befall all other groups. Yes, if we
look only at the frontiersmen who acquired new ranches and
established new business, the fractional-reserve system looks
pretty good. But, if we add in to the equation all the financial losses
to all of the people who were victimized by the system-what
Galbraith calls "an involuntary contribution" and what Greider
lightly dismisses as "froth"-then the product is zero at best and, in
terms of morality, is deeply in the negative.
Galbraith, Greider, and other popular economists assume that
the West could not possibly have been won with honest banking.
Logic does not support such a conclusion. There is every reason to
believe that the bank failures and the resulting business failures on
the frontier all but canceled out the gains that were made by hard
work and honest industry. Had these destructive convulsions been
absent, as most of them would have been under a less chaotic
system, there likely would have been fewer business starts, but a
greater number would have finished, and it is entirely possible that
the West would have been won even faster than it was.
It's too bad the theory has never been tried.
THE UNION IN JEOPARDY
As chronicled in a previous section, economic conflict has
always played a major role in fomenting war. There is no time in
American history in which there was more economic conflict
between segments of the population than there was prior to the
Civil War. It is not surprising, therefore, that this period led directly
into the nation's bloodiest war, made all the more tragic because it
pitted brother against brother.
1. Greider, p. 259.
370 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
There are many popular myths about the cause of the War
Between the States. Just as the Bolshevik Revolution is commonly
believed to have been a spontaneous mass uprising against a
tyrannical aristocracy, so, too, it is generally accepted that the
War was fought over the issue of slavery. That, at best, IS a
half-truth. Slavery was an issue, but the primary force for war was a
clash between the economic interests of the North and the South.
Even the issue of slavery itself was based on economics. It may
have been a moral issue in the North where prosperity was derived
from the machines of heavy industry, but in the agrarian South,
where fields had to be tended by vast work forces of human labor,
the issue was primarily a matter of economics.
The relative unimportance of slavery as a cause for war was
made clear by Lincoln himself during his campai?n f?r
Presidency in 1860, and he repeated that message In his fIrst
inaugural address:
Apprehension seems to exist among the people .of. the
States that by the accession of a Republican theIr
property and their peace and personal. to be
endangered .... I have no purpose, directly or mduectly, to mterfere
with the institution of slavery in the states where it now exists. I
believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do
1
so.
Even after the outbreak of war in 1861, Lincoln confirmed his
previous stand. He declared:
My paramount object in this struggle is to save the it is
not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Umon wIthout
freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could it by freeing all
slaves, I would do it; and if I do it by freemg some and leavmg
others alone, I would also do that.
It may come as a surprise to learn that, by strict definition,
Abraham Lincoln was a white supremacist. In his fourth debate
with Senator Stephen Douglas, he addressed the subject bluntly:
I am not nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way
the social and political equality of the white and black races-that I am
1. Don E. Fehrenbacher, ed., Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings, 1859-1865
(New York: Library of America, 1989), p. 215. .
2. Quoted by Robert L. Polley, ed., Lincoln: His Words and HIS World (Waukesha,
Wisconsin: Country Beautiful Foundation, 1965), p. 54.
LOAVES AND FISHES AND CIVIL WAR
371
not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes,
nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intennarry with white
people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical
difference between the white and black races which I believe will
forever forbid the two races living together on tenns of social and
political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do
remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior,
and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior
position assigned to the white race.
l
This is not to say that Lincoln was indifferent to the institution
of slavery, for he felt strongly that it was a violation of personal and
national morality, but he also knew that slavery was gradually
being swept away all over the world-with the possible exception
of Africa itself-and he believed that it would soon disappear in
America simply by allOWing the natural forces of enlightenment to
work their way through the political system. He feared-and
rightly so-that to demand immediate and total reform, not only
would destroy the Union, it would lead to massive bloodshed and
more human suffering than was endured even under slavery itself.
He said:
I have not allowed myself to forget that the abolition of the Slave
trade by Great Britain was agitated a hundred years before it was a
final success; that the measure had its open fire-eating opponents; its
stealthy "don't-care" opponents; its dollar-and-cent opponents; its
inferior-race opponents; its Negro-equality opponents; and its religion
and good-order opponents; that all these opponents got offices, and
their adversaries got none. But I have also remembered that though
they blazed like tallow-candles for a century, at last they flickered in
the socket, died out, stank in the dark for a brief season, and were
remembered no more, even by the smell. School boys know that
Wilbeforce and Granville Sharpe helped that cause forward; but who
can now name a single man who labored to retard it? Remembering
these things I cannot but regard it as possible that the higher object of
this contest may not be completely attained within the tenn of my
natural life.
2
If Lincoln's primary goal in the War was not the abolition of
slavery but simply to preserve the Union, the question arises: Why
did the Union need preserving? Or, more pointedly, why did the
Southern states want to secede?
1. Fehrenbacher, p. 636.
2. Ibid., p. 438.
372 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
LEGAL PLUNDER, NOT SLAVERY, THE CAUSE OF WAR
The South, being predominantly an agricultural region, had to
import practically all of its manufactured goods from the Northern
states or from Europe, both of which reciprocated by providing a
market for the South's cotton. However, many of the textiles and
manufactured items were considerably cheaper from Europe, even
after the cost of shipping had been added. The Southern states,
therefore, often found it to their advantage to purchase these
European goods rather than those made in the North. This put
considerable competitive pressure on the American manufacturers
to lower their prices and operate more efficiently.
The Republicans were not satisfied with that arrangement.
They decided to use the power of the federal government to tip the
scales of competition in their favor. Claiming that this was in the
"national interest," they levied stiff import duties on almost every
item coming from Europe that was also manufactured in the North.
Not surprisingly, there was no duty applied to cotton which,
presumedly, was not a commodity in the national interest. One
result was that European countries countered by stopping the
purchase of U.S. cotton, which badly hurt the Southern economy.
The other result was that manufacturers in the North were able to
charge higher prices without fear of competition, and the South
was forced to pay more for practically all of its necessities. It was a
classic case of legalized plunder in which the law was used to
enrich one group of citizens at the expense of another.
Pressure from the North against slavery in the South made
matters even more volatile. A fact often overlooked in this episode
is that the cost of a slave was very high, around $1,500 each. A
modest plantation with only forty or fifty slaves, therefore, had a
large capital investment which, in terms of today's purchasing
power, represented many millions of dollars. To the South, there-
fore, abolition meant, not only the loss of its ability to produce a
cash crop, but the total destruction of an enormous capital base.
Many Southern plantation owners were working toward the
day when they could convert their investment to more profitable
industrial production as had been done in the North, and others felt
that freemen who were paid wages would be more efficient than
slaves who had nO incentive to work. For the present, however,
they were stuck with the system they inherited. They felt that a
LOAVES AND FISHES AND CIVIL WAR
373
complete and sudden abolition of slavery with no transition period
would destroy their economy and leave many of the former slaves
to starve-all of which actually happened in due course.
1
That was the situation that existed at the time of Lincoln's
campaign and why, in his speeches, he attempted to calm the fears
of South his intentions. But his words were mostly
politIcal rhetOrIC. Lincoln was a Republican, and he was totally
on the Northern industrialists who controlled the Party.
Even If he had wanted to-and there is no indication that he
did-he could not have reversed the trend of economic favoritism
and protectionism that swept him into office.
MEXICO AND THE MONROE DOCTRINE
In addition to the conflicting interests between North and
South, there were other forces also working to split the nation in
two. Those forces were rooted in Europe and centered around the
desire of France, Spain, and England to control the markets of Latin
America. Mexico was the prime target. This was the reason the
had been formulated thirty-eight years pre-
VIOusly. PreSIdent James Monroe had put the European nations on
notice that the United States would not interfere in their affairs, and
that any interference by them in American affairs would not be
tolerated. In particular, the proclamation said that the American
continents were no longer to be considered as available for
colonization.
None of the European powers wanted to put this issue to the
test, but they knew that if the United States were to become
embroiled in a civil war, it could not also cross swords in Latin
America. To encourage war between the states, therefore, was to
pave the way for colonial expansion in Mexico. The Americas had
become a giant chess board for the game of global politics.
In the American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War, we read:
The war had not progressed very far before it was clear that the
ruling classes in each of these two countries [England and France]
strongly with the Confederacy-so strongly that with
Just a lIttle prodding they might be moved to intervene and bring
independence by force of arms .... Europe's
arIstocraCIes had never been happy about the prodigious success of
1. See "No Civil War at All; Part One," by William McIlhany Journal of Individualist
Studies, Winter, 1992, p. 41. '
374
THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
the Yankee democracy. If the nation now broke into halves, proving
that democracy did not contain the stuff of survival, the rulers of
Europe would be well pleased.
1
The global chess match between Lincoln on the one side and
England and France on the other was closely watched by the other
leaders of Europe. One of the most candid observers at that time
was the Chancellor of Germany, Otto von Bismarck. Since Bismarck
was, himself, deeply obligated to the power of international
finance, his observations are doubly revealing. He said:
The division of the United States into federations of equal force
was decided long before the Civil War by the high financial powers of
Europe. These bankers were afraid that the United States, if they
remained in one block and as one nation, would attain economic and
financial independence, which would upset their financial domination
over the Europe and the world. Of course, in the "inner circle" of
Finance, the voice of the Rothschilds prevailed. They saw an
opportunity for prodigious booty if they could substitute two feeble
democracies, burdened with debt to the financiers,... in place of a
vigorous Republic sufficient unto herself. Therefore, they sent their
emissaries into the field to exploit the question of slavery and to drive
a wedge between the two parts of the Union .. . . The rupture between
the North and the South became inevitable; the masters of European
finance all their forces to bring it about and to tum it to their
advantage.
The strategy was simple but effective. Within months after the
first clash of arms between North and South, France had landed
troops in Mexico. By 1864, the Mexicans were subdued, and the
French monarch installed Ferdinand Maximilian as the puppet
emperor. The Confederacy found a natural ally in Maximilian, and
it was anticipated by both groups that, after the successful execu-
tion of the War, they would combine into a new nation-
dominated by the financial power of Rothschild, of course. At the
same time, England moved eleven-thousand troops into Canada,
1.. Bruce Catt<:r:, author; Richard M. Ketchum, ed., The American Heritage Picture
HIStory of the Czvzl War (New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., 1960), p. 249.
2. This statement was quoted by Conrad Siem, a German who became a U.S.
citizen and who wrote about the lifeand views of Bismark. It was published in La
Vieille France, No. 216, March 17-24, 1921, pp. 13-16. The reader should be
cautioned that Bismarck was no paragon of virtue and, as the father of modem
socialism, his political views should be taken with a healthy degree of caution. All
that aside, there is little doubt that this quotation represents an accurate appraisal
of the machinations of the European Cabal at that time.
LOAVES AND FISHES AND CIVIL WAR 375
positioned them menacingly along the Union's northern flank, and
placed the British fleet onto war-time alert.
1
The European powers were closing in for a checkmate.
SUMMARY
The Second Ba.nk of the United States was dead, but banking
was very much alIve. Many of the old problems continued, and
ones arrived. The issuance of banknotes had been severely
linuted, but that was largely offset by the increasing use of
checkbook money, which had no limits at all on its issue.
':"hen the Bank of the U.S. slipped into history, the nation was
nearmg the end of the boom phase of a boom/bust cycle. When the
inevitable contraction of the money supply came, politicians began
to offer proposals on. how to infuse stability into the banking
system. None dealt WIth the real problem, which was fractional-
reserve itself. They concentrated instead on proposals on
how to make It work. All of these proposals were tried and they
failed.
are sometimes described as a period of free
banking, which IS an insult to truth. All that happened was that
banks converted from corporations to private associations, a
change m form, not substance. They continued to be burdened by
government controls, regulations, supports, and other blocks
against the free market.
The economic chaos and conflict of this period was a major
cause of the Civil War. Lincoln made it clear during his public
speeches that slavery was not the issue. The basic problem was the
North and the South were dependent on each other for trade. The
industrialized North sold its products to the South which sold its
cotton to the North. The South also had a similar trade with
and that was an annoyance to the North. Europe was
sellmg many products at lower prices, and the North was losing
share. Northern politicians passed protectionist legislation
putting import duties on industrial products. This all but stopped
the importation of European goods and forced the South to buy
from the North at higher prices. Europe retaliated by curtailing the
purchase of American cotton. That hurt the South even more. It was
a classic case of legalized plunder, and the South wanted out.
1. Catton and Ketchum, p. 250. Also Otto Eisenschiml, The Hidden Face of the Civil
War (New York: Bobbs-Merril, 1961), p. 25.
376 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
Meanwhile, there were powerful forces in Europe that wanted
to see America embroiled in civil war. If she could be split into two
hostile countries, there would be less obstacle to European expan-
sion on the North American continent. France was eager to capture
Mexico and graft it onto a new empire which would include many
of the Southern states as well. England, on the other hand, had
military forces poised along the Canadian border ready for action.
Political agitators, funded and organized from Europe, were active
on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line. The issue of slavery was but
a ploy. America had become the target in a ruthless game of world
economics and politics.
Chapter Nineteen
GREENBACKS AND
OTHER CRIMES
The causes of the Civil War shown to be economic
and political, not the issue of freedom vs. slavery;
the manner in which both sides used fiat money to
finance the war; the important role played by
foreign powers.
In the previous chapter, we saw how the American continent
had become a giant chess board in a game of global politics. The
European powers had been anxious to see the United States
become embroiled in a civil war and eventually break into two
smaller and weaker nations. That would pave the way for their
further colonization of Latin America without fear of the Ameri-
cans being able to enforce the Monroe Doctrine. And so it was that,
within a few months after the outbreak of war between North and
South, France landed troops in Mexico and, by 1864, had installed
Maximilian as her puppet monarch. Negotiations were begun
immediately to bring Mexico into the war on the side of the
Confederacy. England moved her troops to the Canadian border in
a show of strength. America was facing what appeared to be a
checkmate from the powers in Europe.
RUSSIA ALIGNS WITH THE NORTH
It was a masterful move that possibly could have won the game
had not an unexpected event tipped the scale against it. Tsar
Alexander II-who, incidentally, had never allowed a central bank
to be established in Russia I-notified Lincoln that he stood ready
to militarily align with the North. Although the Tsar had recently
freed the serfs in his own country, his primary motivation for
1. His grandson, Tsar Nicholas, II, did accept loans from J.P. Morgan. In a classic
application of the Rothschild Formula, Morgan also funded the Mensheviks and the
Bolsheviks. The Mensheviks forced Nicholas to abdicate, and the Bolsheviks exe-
cuted him. See Chernow, pp. 195,211.
378 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
coming to the aid of the Union undoubtedly had little to do with
emancipating the slaves in the South. England and France had been
maneuvering to break up the Russian empire by splitting off
Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Crimea, and Georgia. Napoleon
III, of France, proposed to Great Britain and Austria that the three
nations immediately declare war on Russia to hasten this dismem-
berment.
Knowing that war was being considered by his enemies, Tsar
Alexander decided to playa chess game of his own. In September
of 1863, he dispatched his Baltic fleet of war ships to Alexandria,
Virginia, and his Asiatic fleet to San Francisco. The significance of
this move was explained by Russian-born Carl Wrangell-
Rokassowsky:
No treaty was signed between Russia and the United States, but
their mutual interest, and the threat of war to both, unified these two
nations at this critical moment. By dispatching his Baltic Fleet to the
North American harbors, the Tsar changed his position from a
defensive to an offensive one. Paragraph 3 of the instructions given to
Admiral Lessovsky by Admiral Krabbe, at that time Russian Secretary
of the Navy, dated July 14th, 1863, ordered the Russian Fleet, in case of
war, to attack the enemies' commercial shipping and their colonies so
as to cause them the greatest possible damage. The same instructions
were given to Admiral Popov, Commander of the ·Russian Asiatic
Fleet.!
The presence of the Russian Navy helped the Union enforce a
devastating naval blockade against the Southern states which
denied them access to critical supplies from Europe. It was not that
these ships Single-handedly kept the French and English vessels at
bay. Actually there is no record of them even firing upon each
other, but that is the point. The fact that neither France nor England
at that time wanted to risk becoming involved in an open war with
the United States and Russia led them to be extremely cautious with
overt military aid to the South. Throughout the entire conflict, they
found it expedient to remain officially neutral. Without the inhibit-
ing effect of the presence of the Russian fleet, the course of the war
could have been significantly different.
1. Carl Wrangell-Rokassowsky, Before the Storm (Ventimiglia, Italy: Tipo-
Litografia Ligure, 1972), p. 57.
GREENBACKS AND OTHER CRIMES 379
The beginning of the war did not go well for the North, and in
the early years, the outcome was far from certain. Not only did the
Union army face repeated defeats on the battlefield, but enthusi-
asm from the people at home was badly sagging. As mentioned
previously, at the outset this was not a popular war based on
humanitarian principle; it was a war of business interests. That
presented two serious problems for the North. The first was how to
get people to fight, and the second was how to get them to pay.
Both problems were solved by the simple expediency of violating
the Constitution.
THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION
To get people to fight, it was decided to convert the war into an
anti-slavery crusade. The Emancipation Proclamation was primar-
ily a move on the part of Lincoln to fan the dying embers of support
for the "Rich-man's war and the poor-man's fight," as it was
commonly called in the North. Furthermore, it was not an amend-
ment to the Constitution nor even an act of Congress. It was issued,
totally without constitutional authority, as the solitary order of
Lincoln himself, acting as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.
Preservation of the Union was not enough to fire men's
enthusiasm for war. Only the higher issue of freedom could do
that. To make the cause of freedom synonymous with the cause of
the North, there was no alternative but to officially declare against
slavery. After having emphasized over and over again that slavery
was not the reason for war, Lincoln later explained why he changed
his course and issued the Proclamation:
Things had gone from bad to worse until I felt we had reached the
end of our rope on the plan we were pursuing; that we had about
played our last card, and must change our tactics or lose the game. I
now determined upon the adoption of the emancipation policy.1
The rhetoric of the Proclamation was superb, but the concept
left a great deal to be desired. Bruce Catton, writing in the American
Heritage Pictorial History of the Civil War explains:
Technically, the proclamation was almost absurd. It proclaimed
freedom for all slaves in precisely those areas where the United States
could not make its authority effective, and allowed slavery to continue
in slave states which remained under Federal control. ... But in the end
1. Quoted by Charles Adams, Fight, Flight, Fraud: The Story of Taxation (Curacao,
The Netherlands: Euro-Dutch Publishers, 1982), p. 229.
380 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
it changed the whole character of the war and, more than any other
single thing, doomed the Confederacy to defeat.
1
The Proclamation had a profound impact on the European
powers as well. As long as the war had been viewed as an attempt
on the part of a government to put down rebellion, there was
nothing sacred about it, and there was no stigma attached to
helping either side. But now that freedom was the apparent issue, no
government in Europe-least of all England and France---dared to
anger its own subjects by taking sides against a country that was
trying to destroy slavery. After 1862 the chance that Europe would
militarily intervene on behalf of the Confederacy rapidly faded to
zero. On the propaganda front, the South had been maneuvered
into a position which could not be defended in the modern world.
Converting the war into an antislavery crusade was a brilliant
move on Lincoln's part, and it resulted in a surge of voluntary
recruits into the Union army. But this did not last. Northerners may
have disapproved of slavery in the South but, once the bloodletting
began in earnest, their willingness to die for that conviction began
to wane. At the beginning of the war, enlistments were for only
three months and, when that period was over, many of the soldiers
declined to renew. Lincoln faced the embarrassing reality that he
soon would have no army to carryon the crusade.
RAISING ARMIES ON BOTH SIDES
Historically, men are willing to take up arms to defend their
families, their homes, and their country when threatened by a
hostile foe. But the only way to get them to fight in a war in which
they have no perceived personal interest is either to pay them large
bonuses and bounties or to force them to do so by conscription. It is
not surprising, therefore, that both methods were employed to
keep the Union army in the field. Furthermore, although the
Constitution specifies that only Congress can declare war and raise